Stand my Ground
by Peya Luna
Summary: Sequel to 'Revelations in the Moonlight'. An extraordinary foe threatens everything that matters to Tommy. Can he bear up against the stronger - and at the same time keep his secrets? Anyway, his life will never be the same again. TxM!
1. Chapter 1

**BWOC : Stand ****my Ground **

Disclaimer: I don't own a thing…sniff

Note: This is the sequel to 'Revelations in the Moonlight'. Sorry everybody that it took me so long, but you know what they say: live is what happens while you're busy making plans.

Warning: English still isn't my mother language, means there surely will be some grammar and spelling mistakes though I do my very best to avoid them.

And yes, this is a slash-story, means there will be male/male action and since it's rated mature you can guess that there will be more than holding hands, if you've got a problem with that, better hit the back button now, but don't flame me afterwards for you have been warned.

Also, there will be a bit of 'fur-play' in this chapter.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX Chapter 1 XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

It was a warm summer night in Pleasantville.

Unlike on other Saturdays, Merton was sitting in his lair alone, but that didn't bother him the least, for tonight was a full moon. He knew that Tommy was currently running on all fours through the woods like he had on every full moon since his first transformation on the night of the winter solstice.

Merton wasn't jealous at all but glad that the jock and his wolf were getting along so well, besides he was sure his beloved would come to him later on, like he always did.

The Goth looked over to his window, wide opened to let in his wolf, and unconsciously fingered the scar on his shoulder.

Roughly eight month ago Tommy had bitten him to mark him as his forever, and since that night Merton's life had been better than he had ever dreamed of.

His friend had taken him home with him for Christmas as if it were quite natural, bestowing him with his first real family Christmas celebration since grandma Dingle had passed away and he had become the pale outsider in his own family.

When Tommy had secretly kissed him under the mistletoe he had been so touched he had been near tears.

Although they had agreed on keeping their relationship private in order not to draw unwanted attention which could cause Tommy's secret double life to get busted, whenever they were unobserved his romantic werewolf left no doubt of his feelings.

Little love notes, hidden kisses and those famous, dazzling Dawkins smiles which never failed to make him blush, both boys were still on cloud nine and the end was nowhere in sight.

Though their life wasn't completely unproblematic, beside the occasional evil fellow that needed to be kicked out of town, there was still Lori Baxter.

Their first accidental encounter with the blonde after the 'incident' had been a near-disaster, luckily no one had been around because Tommy had instantly wolfed out, ready to protect his mate, instinctively growling at the possible threat. Lori had paled on the spot with fear and stammered a sincere sounding apology, swearing in tears by God and all angels that she had no clue what had come over her.

After intensive research Merton had found a possible explanation for her really abnormal behaviour, apparently unmated werewolves were radiating a strong pheromone cocktail around Lycanamora to help them winning over their future mate, and as a former girl friend of Tommy Lori must have somehow reacted to this, increasing her desire to have sex with him to the point it bordered on an insane obsession.

Of course that was no excuse for her deed, but at least Merton was quite sure that she won't run amok again now that the pheromones were gone since Tommy was mated.

All this didn't matter to the werewolf, as far as he was concerned Lori Baxter could go to hell.

It took Merton a lot of persuasiveness to make his friend agree to give her a second shot, not only for using her help with beating up the bad guys but also to make sure she'll keep the secret of Tommy being the Pleasantville Werewolf.

Nevertheless, the situation remained tense; whenever Lori was with them Tommy had a hard time to keep his animal side in check for the wolf won't let her come near his mate.

She accepted being on probation and made sure not to stand too close to Merton let alone to touch him, remembering the feral side of the usually friendly werewolf very well.

The crescent-shaped claw marks on her neck, although scarred over but still very much visible, made sure to that.

A soft thud jolted Merton out of his musings, looking up he saw what must have been the most gorgeous creature on earth, at least as far as he was concerned.

Beautiful golden amber eyes, the softest silver brown fur, a faint smell of herbage and wild flowers from the woods, and the best, it was all his.

He stood up and began to undress while walking over to his bed, feeling the intense gaze of his beloved burn across his pale skin. One powerful leap and his wolf was sitting in front of him on the bed, his tail wagging softly.

Merton sat down opposite to him, his hands buried deep in the luxuriant fur, petting and stroking him, while the wolf nuzzled and licked across his upper body, always mindful of his sharp fangs.

The Goth knew it had taken Tommy a lot to trust his wolf enough to partially include him into their lovemaking, not to mention a great effort from Merton to persuade his friend that he honestly had no problem with sharing every part of their relationship with his animal side.

But it had been more than worth it, it had brought the two even closer together and strengthened their bond further, not least because Tommy could clearly see that his lover really enjoyed this furry kind of foreplay.

Another plus was that it allowed them to have sex on full moon nights too, because after a complete transformation Tommy could only temporarily revert back into his werewolf form but mostly remained on all fours for the rest of the night.

Before they had found their own particular way to handle these nights this had been the reason for quite some discomfort for the werewolf, being near his mate, the added energy of the full moon making him extra horny, but forced to wait for the sunrise.

Now they enjoyed these special nights and relished the electrifying influence of the moon.

Merton laid back, soft fur tickled him all over and a hot tongue seemed to wander everywhere as he petted and stroked every furred body part his hands could reach.

After a while he reached blindly for his nightstand and propped one leg up.

The wolf, knowing what his mate was up to, changed his position so that he was now crouched over him, slowly licking along his throat up to his jaw line while his wagging tail was brushing oh so softly over the human's privates. The Goth moaned and arched his back, he really loved the sensation the furry appendage was creating and hurried with the task of preparing himself.

Even with his eyes closed he could feel the change of his beloved above him, like a shift in the air that sent goose bumps all over his skin.

Gone was the fur, only to be replaced by equally soft human skin pressing against him, and instead the sinful tongue on his jaw his mouth was now covered with an eager pair of lips.

Their kiss was hot and needy, leaving both breathless but far from sated. The werewolf's hands wandered sensually over his mate's body while Merton finished the job his lover couldn't do tonight because of his sharp claws. Brown eyes flashed golden in excitement as the smaller was finally done and wrapped his legs around his lover's hips.

Their union made both gasp and Tommy had to hold himself back not to pound right away but to wait a bit before starting slowly. Soon though Merton's encouraging moans erased what little control he had and he rammed into his lover with all his inhuman strength, growling and snarling, more as if he was fighting instead of loving the one lying underneath him.

The Goth was writhing in pure ecstasy, eyes half-closed and his mind in a haze he dimly noticed that Tommy's eyes were now constantly glowing yellow, but didn't care at all for he knew he would never hurt him.

Suddenly the werewolf bent forward and began to lick at his neck. Merton arched his head back to give him even better access and didn't even flinch as inch-long fangs scraped across his throat. The sharp teeth wandered towards the mating mark, points pressing against the sensitive scar tissue, almost hard enough to draw blood.

Merton's breath hitched as pleasure erupted from the mark and slammed lightning-like through his body down into his groin. The sensation instantly threw him over the edge, clutching onto his beloved for dear life he could feel him jerk and shudder as he came as well.

It took both boys some time to recover their breath after this mind-blowing orgasm; as usual it was Tommy who recovered first. He lifted a paw to gently brush some sweaty strands of hair out of Merton's face before giving him a soft kiss on the forehead. The smaller smiled up at his love and drew him in for a short, sweet kiss, cuddling even closer to his friend in the process.

"How were the woods tonight, anything unusual?"

"Nope, everything was perfectly peaceful. You know, I really love to run in those quiet summer nights, when the moon shines so bright and tints everything blue…it's like running in a dream. Before I knew it I was almost all the way to Muhlenburg."

Merton gasped; no wonder, the distance from Pleasantville to their neighbour town was more than thirty miles!

"You're getting faster."

"Yeah…and I even did my good deed for today."

The Goth raised one questioning eyebrow at that.

Tommy ginned "You know the parking lot at the edge of the woods right out of Muhlenburg, were all the young couples go to 'watch the stars'?" he asked.

"Well, there was a shy high school couple, obviously on their first date for they were just wordlessly staring at each other. One scary howl and she threw herself in his arms, scared and blushing madly, and within two minutes flat they were kissing like pro´s."

Merton chuckled "So you're not busy enough with keeping our town safe and villain-free, now you're working as a part-time cupid, too?"

But before Tommy could answer the full moon demanded his right and the werewolf changed back into his wolf form. Golden eyes looked almost apologetically at the human, but he just smiled.

"Its o.k.; I'm tired anyway, lets sleep a bit until you'll be able to turn back into a werewolf again…and if I know you just one bit, I'll need every ounce of sleep I can get now once your humanoid again." Merton ended, playfully teasing, for the both knew that they were far from done for tonight, thanks to the stimulating influence of the full moon.

As an answer the wolf snuggled up to his human mate as close as possible, growled contend, and, after one last tender lick across the Goths cheek, closed his eyes. Merton in return wrapped one arm across the huge animal beside him and buried his face inside its soft fur.

His last thought before sleep claimed him too was that his life was indeed as good as it could ever get.

--

Hundreds of miles away from Pleasantville, a dark figure in an oubliette was using the additional energy of the full moon too, but for very different purposes.

The stranger was yanking and tearing at the oddly shimmering chains constraining him with all his might, no matter how deep the cuffs cut into his wrists.

After months of trying he could finally feel how the chains were slowly starting to rip from their moorings; soon he would be completely free.

And then…."I'm going to kill the Pleasantville Werewolf!"


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: Nothing belongs to me…sniff!

Thanks to all who left a review: Forsaken18, Charlio4444, Scottishwriter, Kazima Kuwabara, Xixie, Michiru-Senko and vizzini13! You guys – and gals – rock!!

Note: The werewolf princess will appear in this chapter, and since I'm tired to always call her 'the princess' but can't remember her name on the show, I decided to give her one: Callisto.

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2. Chapter

MEEP! MEEP! MEEP! MEEP! MEEP!

BANG!!

Tommy slumped back on his pillow and groaned, if there was one thing in the whole wide world he really hated it was getting rudely awakened by an annoying alarm clock.

Especially when it was the morning after a pretty exhausting full moon night, plus it was Sunday so one could sleep in as long as one liked – theoretically. Practically though his Mom was a strong advocate of what she called 'Sunday morning family breakfast' and would kill him if he skived.

He turned around to a sleepy blinking barely awake Merton to give him a soft kiss.

"Morning love…you're coming with me to the famed family breakfast at the casa Dawkins?"

"Sorry Tommy" he yawned "but I've got a paper to do for Monday, and also my laundry. We don't want my nosy kid sister making comments about the weird 'dog hair' on my bedding again, right?"

"No, I guess not. Well then, I see you later, maybe I can manage to preserve some muffins from Dean for you." Merton's blue eyes lit up at this for he had quite a sweet tooth and Sally Dawkins triple-chocolate-muffins were simply beyond description.

With one last sigh Tommy entangled himself from the warm, cosy blankets and stood up, bravely facing the cold morning air inside the lair. God, he truly hated getting up so early on a Sunday morning!

While he listened to Tommy singing under the shower – totally off-key, as always - Merton stretched slowly and got up himself.

He felt a little guilty because although he had to do a paper and his laundry, he would have had the time to go with his friend to his family's breakfast.

Merton sighed; it wasn't that he didn't like Tommy's family, far from it. They were great and always friendly to him, but his stomach tightened into knots each time Sally or Bob would ask their son way too casually if he was dating someone. They knew that his short relationship with Lori ended ages ago and were slowly but surly beginning to wonder why their popular, handsome son hadn't a new girlfriend.

So far Tommy managed to laugh off all their questions if he was still mourning after Lori or secretly crushing on some college girl, but it was clear that he wouldn't be able to keep the truth from them forever.

Not that Tommy didn't want to adhere to Merton, quite the opposite; he would love to tell his parents how lucky he was with him, but telling them about their relationship would in the long run reveal the wolf as well. And although Tommy was sure that his parents would love him despite being gay, he wasn't sure if they could deal with their son being a werewolf, too.

After all, it had been his _dad _who had organised and led that werewolf hunting party back in his early days as a werewolf of which Tommy still had nightmares sometimes were the pitchforks and torches wielding mob manages to get hold of him.

After a short but sweet goodbye-kiss, Tommy left towards his parent's house and Merton climbed up the stairs to the kitchen to grab himself something to eat. He hurriedly made himself a sandwich while the coffee was still brewing, grabbed a huge cup full and was on his way back into his lair before the smell of the fresh brew would wake his family.

No need to ruin his day by provoking yet another 'I'm so disappointed that something like you is my son'-look from his parents or a screeching 'Freaker!' from Becky.

Merton sat down at his desk, sipping his coffee, and began to check his e-mails.

Between tons of junk and advertisement one mail instantly leaped into his eye, a message from Lycantria.

He opened the mail immediately, wondering what it could be about, because although the werewolf-kingdom had finally followed his suggestion and got an e-mail account they were still very reluctant to use the strange new technology.

It was a short note, basically a request from princess Callisto for a talk with him and Tommy via web-cam, and that as soon as possible.

Suddenly Merton's coffee seemed to taste bitter and a cold shiver run down his spine, he smelled trouble. What could be so bad that she only wanted to tell them face to face?

For the rest of the morning he could hardly concentrate on anything let alone on his stupid paper, staring every five minutes at the clock and anxiously waiting for Tommy's return.

By the time his friend came back from his parents in the early afternoon Merton was a nervous wreck.

Of course the werewolf sensed at once that something was wrong with his mate, without thinking he rushed to embrace and soothe his distraught lover.

"Merton, what's wrong, did something happen?"

"I don't know what's wrong yet, but now that you're here we can find out." Replied the Goth cryptically while he all but melted into the strong comforting arms of his friend. Then he told him about the weird mail from the princess.

"That's all? Don't worry Mert, I'm sure she just wants to tell us a surprise and wants to see our baffled faces." Tommy smiled, optimistic as always. "You know what; we contact her right now and hear what news she got for us, so you can stop worrying, ok?"

Merton tried to return the smile, but couldn't really hide the uneasiness he still felt.

Only a few seconds after the had clicked the link to her web-cam the face of the werewolf princess appeared on the computer screen and it became obvious that Merton's worries had been vindicated as she was deathly pale and even more tense than the Goth.

"Tommy, Merton! I'm so glad, I wasn't sure if my mail got trough to you!"

"Hello Cal, what's the matter? No offence, but you look quite…uh..."

"Its ok, I know I look like shit, no wonder, I feel like I haven't slept in ages, everything's all haywire, my dad is still badly injured, our connection to the mainland is severed, Steven is in the hands of this madman and…"

Tommy interrupted her confused sobbing. "Cal! Breathe! And start with the beginning, ok?"

"Ok Tommy." She took a few deep breaths and, after her sobs had ceased, began her story.

"Basically, this all started already during last years Lycanamora. Due to the two moons those who were to get their vision were divided in two groups, I was in the second.

After the first group got their visions, those who had visions of each other mated their chosen at once. Same applied for those who had visions of someone from the second group they had already been dating before, you see, in these cases the vision was merely a last confirmation of what they already knew.

One guy from the first group named Mark, but prefers to call himself 'Ariel', claimed straight away that he had a vision of me and bluntly wanted to mate me on the spot although we weren't even friends before, let alone a couple!

Truth to be told, I never liked him, he's totally old-school, you know, eating raw meat, despising humans, changed his name into that of a moon, all that medieval crap of our ancestors…but unfortunately he's also the strongest young wolf of our generation, hence would have been a logical candidate to become the next King, plus no one could imagine that he would lie about his vision, after all who would want to mate someone that isn't his soul mate? It's plain idiotic not to mention illegal!

Nevertheless, I refused to mate Ariel before I had my own vision, which didn't suit well with him - to put it mildly. That bastard tried to attack and coerce me, which only fuelled my suspicion that something was wrong with his vision.

And so it was, my own vision clearly showed Jamie, one of my closest friends since childhood and now a loyal member of the royal guard.

He had been in the first group too, but after Ariel stated he would be my mate he had been too shy - and also too afraid - to contradict him, so he decided to wait for me to have my vision and recognise my true mate; thank god, that bastard would have killed him to fulfil his sick plan!

Because after I announced Jamie to be my true mate - and by doing this exposing Ariel's wilful deception manoeuvre to lure me into mating him - he got so mad he couldn't help to open his big mouth and the mask finally slipped.

You see, his whole scheme wasn't really about me; mating me should have been just a means to an end to become Lycantria´s next king.

Apparently Ariel conceits himself to be the Messiah of the werewolves, and his mission is to bring back the 'good old days' when werewolves used to hunt humans for their flesh or to enslave them and becoming king should have been the first step on the way to build up his new world order.

Since his plan to mate me didn't work, he now attacked my father, cause defeating the old king is the only other way to become the new king.

Alas it's each young alpha's right to challenge the king so our guards couldn't interfere.

All too soon though it became obvious that Ariel didn't just want to defeat but to kill the old king, like they used to do it back in the old times."

Callisto swallowed and looked down, her voice full of memorized horror.

"I begged and pleaded for him to stop, but he didn't listen and carried on beating and biting my dad even after he was already unconscious….there was so much b-blood…." She hiccupped under her tears.

"I couldn't only stand beside and watch how that lunatic tears my Dad to shreds, I had to do something, but of course I'm not strong enough to step into a fight like this, so I did the only thing I hoped that could save my Dad…I yelled at Ariel that it won't be of any use for him to kill my Dad because he had already been defeated before. _That_ got his attention, and even though he didn't want to believe what I was saying he could see and smell that I wasn't lying.

The guards immediately took advantage of his distraction and arrested him."

"Wait a minute!" Merton interrupted her, clearly irritated. "Haven't you just said that the guards couldn't interfere because this Ariel had the right to attack your father?"

Callisto flinched visibly. "Not exactly…I said that he had the right to challenge the king, but being defeated by another alpha before my dad technically isn't king anymore but a mere regent for our true king.

Of course we kept this crucial fact top secret, but under these circumstances I saw no other way to save my Dad than to betray it. Ariel was arrested for attempted false-mating and high treason committed against the kingdom of Lycantria. He was put into our sole maximum security cell, the one with the silver-plated chains that was specially designed so that it can even hold a strong alpha…at least we thought so.

Last night though Ariel managed to break free, killed the prison guards and kind of kidnapped my cousin Steven."

"What do you mean with 'kind of'?" asked Tommy.

"Steven is what we call a 'born beta', which means he's smaller and weaker than a normal werewolf due to the fact that he was born prematurely and instinctively bound to submit to each alpha.

Whether he wants to or not, he must do as Ariel orders him; together they planted delayed-action bombs along the roof of the underwater tunnel that's connecting Lycantria with the main land. By the time the change of shift found the slaughtered guards Ariel was already gone and the bombs started to explode, effectively causing the tunnel roof to collapse in several places and flooding the whole passage."

She sighed "It will take weeks to repair the damage, until then we're completely marooned, the extreme stormy sea that usually protects our island from getting discovered is now a downside. This computer is our last contact to the outside world; right now we can't do a thing if Ariel is still following his mad plan, and he knows it. I'm sure he wants to get over and done with it before we can capture him again, because this time he won't get arrested but executed for killing those guards – unless he manages to become king before.

So his only chance is to find the wolf that had defeated my dad before we get him.

Luckily neither him nor Steven know the exact identity of the sovereign alpha, but as crazy as he is, Ariel isn't stupid; he could easily figure out that it wasn't a wolf from Lycantria that had defeated my Dad because everyone loves him and no one but that bastard had ever thought of challenging him. However since it must have been a strong alpha this leaves only one conclusion..."

Suddenly she broke down crying again. "I'm so sorry Tommy, I swear if it hadn't been about my dad's life I would have never betrayed you like this!"

Tommy was baffled. "What do you mean, how did you betray _me_?"

Instead of an answer, Callisto only stared at him with wide eyes and jaw slack. Thereby even more confused, the jock looked over to Merton, who had been awfully quiet during her last explanations and was now looking very pale and even more distressed than the princess.

"You really don't get it, do you?" Tommy could only shake his head at the Goth's quiet inquiry.

"Do you remember when we first met Callisto and she took you with her to Lycantria? I had been so curious that I secretly followed you, but got caught and king Iapetus didn't want to let me go home again so that I could never give away the location of their island. But you wanted to take me back to Pleasantville with you, so you two fought - and you defeated him."

Tommy blinked, totally gobsmacked "Wait a minute…you mean that little scuffle back then? But that hadn't been a serious fight, heck I didn't even break a sweat!"

"Doesn't matter, you had my Dad pinned against the wall and could have killed him if you wanted; he was at your mercy - and submitted. That made my Dad your beta, and everything that had belonged to him was now yours, including the throne. He even offered you his crown, don't you remember?"

"Well yes, I remember him saying something like that, but I thought it was a joke! I mean, I told him right away that I didn't want his crown but just to return home with Merton."

He looked over to his beloved mate. "So what you two are trying to tell me is, because of what happened way back in Lycantria this nutcase is now chasing after _me_?"

"Yeah…everyone got to know about the 'Pleasantville Werewolf' when Merton requested the herbs from our experts for the Lycanamora ritual. It caused quite an uproar, the existence of a strong, _bitten _alpha outside of Lycantria; some of our elders still remember the days when us few born and scores of bitten werewolves were struggling for supremacy.

My Dad and I could hush those old fears though, we pointed out that you've never changed someone but disabled the rogue alpha that had bitten you -and probably would have bitten dozens more in the years to come- plus neutralised that nasty syndicate, a source of danger that had constantly worried us."

The princess tried to smile reassuringly "Anyway, since Ariel had never been in the human world before we're pretty sure that he'll need quite a while to get to Pleasantville, I mean he can't drive a car, has no money…and even if he reaches your town before us, he doesn't know your name, so if you stay in your human form he can't find you."

"That's all very well Cal, but why can't I just beat him up when he arrives and lock him away until you guys get here? I can't really reconcile with the idea of this lunatic being on the loose in my home town."

"NO!! I implore you, not under any circumstances can you fight against Ariel! For if you loose, then we're all lost."

"She's right Tommy, we can't take that risk, he would get unstoppable, and god knows what he would do in his madness – remember professor Flugelhoff´s vision of a werewolf-army? Ariel could make it come true.

Also don't forget, as a born werewolf Ariel has almost his full power during all the phases of the moon whereas your power fluctuates much more and is heavily dependent on the lunar phase.

Unless you manage to catch him on a full moon his strength is without any doubt superior to yours. Besides, I highly doubt that he would fight fair, plus he doesn't just want to beat but to kill you."

Merton looked him straight into the eyes, unshed tears glistening in his own.

"I know it's not your way of doing things to sit and wait, but this time it's for the best. I beg you Tommy, just this once, stay hidden and wait for the cavalry. I don't want to loose you."

He whispered the last part, too scared to voice his deepest fear out loud.

His mate's genuine worry made a bigger impact on the werewolf than the upcoming threat to his life; he would do anything to make his beloved happy.

Even if that meant to keep his animal side on an awful short leash for the time being.

Tommy sighed deeply. "O.K Merton, I will keep calm and wait for the guards from Lycantria to handle this guy, promised."

--

On a forsaken camping ground miles from anywhere two biology students had found the perfect spot for their studies and had set up their tent.

Luke and Sam planned to write their dissertation about the breeding of seagulls respective the specific marine fauna of this coastal area.

Though as ideal as this place might be for their research, it also had its downsides.

"Honestly dude, I need to see some human faces again, or I swear I'm gonna die of sheer boredom!" Luke complained loudly.

"Yeah man, I know what you mean, to think that I haven't seen my Mary for two months now, it's driving me nuts."

"Hey! At least you've got a girl waiting for you – I've only got my mom's roast to look forward to."

That comment earned him a groan from his friend. "Stop talking about food RIGHT NOW!"

Sam looked disgusted at their supper, greenish-brown pea soup. "If there's anything I miss even more than my girl it's to eat something that's _not_ coming out of a tin."

Luke grinned; the opportunity to taunt his buddy was just too good to pass.

"Cheeseburger…with fries… and a cool six-pack!"

The two young men continued their friendly banter throughout the rest of their meal, blissfully unaware that, while this part of the coast might be devoid of other humans, it wasn't totally devoid of other intelligent life forms.

Eerie glowing yellow eyes in a dark furry face watched every movement of the two.

They yawned and stretched, time to hit the sleeping bags; Luke whining one last time about how many miles off from the next human settlement they were.

Far off from the next human settlement they were indeed – but alas less than five miles from the hidden exit of the tunnel that once lead to Lycantria.

Ariel grinned, revealing his sharp fangs, and started walking over to the tent at a leisurely pace. By the end of the night there wouldn't be _any_ humans in the area remaining.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: Little me owns nothing. Pity!!

Well…this is usually the place where I thank my awesome reviewers for their support…but aside from my dear old friend 66Witch no one reviewed…sniff!…was the last chapter _that _crappy? Or are you all gone into prematurely hibernation?!

Anyway, I hope you all enjoy this chapter, which is in the lights of the recent events, dedicated to 66Witch. You're awesome girl!!

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3. Chapter

After the first shock about Callisto´s message had ebbed away, Merton plunged into activities; he researched ways to hold off evil werewolves, scientific as well as magical, and methods of self-defence.

Luckily it was near the end of term so they could concentrate fully onto the upcoming threat without worrying for their marks.

Much to the Goth's chagrin, Tommy refused flatly to simply leave Pleasantville for the duration of risk and spent his semester break elsewhere.

Even though he had promised not to fight against this bastard on his own the werewolf didn't thought of leaving his family and friends behind in a time of danger.

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Luke was gripping the steering wheel of his jeep so tight that he could hardly feel his fingers anymore; beside him Sam was biting the insides of his cheeks to stop his teeth from chattering.

Both young men were still in a state of shock, for the last night had turned their world picture upside down.

Creatures that were supposed to exist only in nightmares and horror movies had come out of the shadows they had been hiding in and into their tent, catching them totally of guard.

Between pain, fright and blood loss they had soon lost consciousness only to discover upon waking that it hadn't been a horrible dream but that they hadn't been dreaming at all.

The monsters were still there, gone were only their wounds; and only their torn and bloody clothes showed Luke and Sam that they had been indeed all but disembowelled the night before.

And now here they were, driving towards some little town on the other side of the country on the darker, bigger monster's behest.

After endless hours of driving in total silence, Luke cleared his throat.

"W-we need to stop at the next service station" he stammered, nervous at the sight of Ariel's glare "to refuel, the t-tank is almost empty."

"What do you mean, human?" barked the dark-haired one.

"I think what he's trying to say is that this vehicle needs to restock its propellant to be able to move on." said the smaller one timidly.

"Fine" growled Ariel "I'm hungry anyway. You're gonna watch this humans while I go and hunt me a meal."

"Yes, my alpha." Steven lowered his gaze submissively, but inside his mind he was far from being obeisant. He was planning to use the opportunity to talk with the two young men unobserved.

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The boys and Lori met Tuesday evening in the Lair for an impromptu crisis summit and some fried chicken pieces from the hungry bucket.

"So Merton, what's the emergency plan, how do we fight them off?" asked Lori, thinking combative as always.

"Actually, our main goal is to prevent any kind of fight, as I've already explained to you we can't risk Tommy's identity to get busted, and without his werewolf strength we're completely chanceless."

"Yeah, true, but what shall I do when this Ariel-guy is standing in front of me and wants to turn me into his supper, call 911?" she tried to joke and sound light, but her voice was slightly quivering. The news that a truly evil werewolf with killing intentions was on his way had shocked her too.

"I've purchased spray flacons with silver nitrate for all of us and I highly recommend you to wear as much silver jewellery as possible in plain sight, it might scare him off; I would do the same if it weren't for Tommy."

"You _will_ wear your silver stuff Merton, at least out on the streets or when I'm not with you. I don't want you to get hurt just because you're afraid that too much silver in close proximity will make me queasy!" The jock tried to sound dominant and determinate, but Merton could clearly perceive his true intention: Tommy was worried about him.

His gaze softened "O.K, Tommy, I will wear some of my amulets…as for our other options to keep them off and diverted…" he sighed deeply. "I fear we can't use magic at all."

"What? Why not?!"

"Easy, because every kind of spell that would affect Ariel would influence Tommy as well, unfortunately werewolf-defence-magic doesn't know the difference between good and bad werewolves and simply attacks every werewolf around alike."

"Shoot! Are you telling me that all we have is bling-bling and defence-spray?" Lori sounded as if she was ready to hit the panic button.

"Nope, I've found something non-magical that should help us quite well." Merton produced a multi-coloured carton of the size of a packet of cornflakes.

Tommy stared incredulously at the package. "'Mutt away'? That's our secret weapon?"

"It's a strong dog repellent, and most important, it erases dependably your old scent trails. Currently, your scent is all over Pleasantville; right now all Ariel would have to do to find you is to follow his nose."

"You mean we simply have to strew this stuff about the places were Tommy usually hangs out and this evil bastard can't smell him anymore?"

"Basically yes, for this substance blocks the olfactory cognition. Though we can't just _only _treat the locations were Tommy spends most of his time, it would be like a big indicating label screaming 'here's something hidden'. No, aside from mine and Tommy's house, the factory, the park and of course the campus we should also cover parts of the town were he never goes, to irritate Ariel."

Tommy carefully sniffed at the box and sneezed. "We'll need tons of that stuff – and a really good explanation if someone catches us scattering some weird powder all over the town."

"I estimate that we'll need at least about fifty pounds; I've already bought every package available in Pleasantville and Muhlenburg and ordered more via internet. As for how to spread it…I thought that maybe we could use the distributors the town uses to spread manure, they're perfect for the job and we could claim that we're spreading weed killer or something like that for the municipality. Do you think that maybe you could procure them Tommy?"

The addressed grinned. "Are you kidding? My dad is the major – besides, who could resist the famous Dawkins charm?"

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The instant they had reached the gas station, Ariel disappeared into the woods.

As soon as he was out of earshot, Steven relaxed visibly. "Come on guys; let's go and grab something to eat ourselves."

The three went into the little dinner at the station and sat down in a quiet booth at the very end.

"You two can relax, Ariel won't be back for some time and I'm not going to hurt you. By the way, I'm Steven, and what are your names?"

The two were stunned at his sudden friendliness but answered nonetheless.

"I'm Luke, and that's my best friend Steven."

"Nice to meet you, though I wish it had been under different circumstances. Now, there are a few things you need to know…" he stopped when the waitress came to their table.

Once they had gotten their food, Steven started talking again. He explained to them that he couldn't disobey Ariel and why it was so important to the other wolf to go to that peculiar town.

Being biology students, Sam and Luke could understand him better than he had dared to hope, they could relate his information to what they knew about the hierarchy inside of wolf packs.

"You see, we need to stall the best we can to buy the guards from Lycantria time to catch him before he manages to find the Pleasantville werewolf, or we're all lost." He concluded and the two humans facing him nodded solemnly. "Hopefully this nightmare is over prior to the next full moon, so you two can get the cure in time before your transformation is complete."

"So there is a cure?" Luke asked hopefully.

"Yes, and I'm positive that this werewolf we're driving to has some of it in stock for emergency cases. As far as I know it's some plant, totally harmless, but you have to take it in time." Steven smiled, trying to convey comfort. "Don't worry guys, even if you don't get the cure timely, it won't be the end of the world. Life as a werewolf isn't half bad actually."

This comment had Luke hooked, curiously he started to bombard him with questions about the life of werewolves.

Sam remained quiet, he thought about his Mary and how she would react if she saw him with fur and fangs. Before he had gone on his research trip they had even talked about starting a family, and now he was turning into a monster….he closed his eyes. _Lord help me._

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As he had predicted, one beaming smile and Tommy had the key to the town's tool shed where the distributors were stored away.

They started at once, covering all the critical areas and the paths Tommy usual patrolled as a werewolf first before moving on to other parts of the city.

Surprisingly no one bothered to ask what exactly they were doing, people just saw the city coat of arms on the distributors and thought it was some sort of charitable work.

With Merton impatiently urging them on they were done in the early afternoon on Friday.

After spreading almost seventy pounds of weird smelling stuff all over the town- and walking their asses off in the process - they decided to celebrate their accomplished task at the factory where the rest of their fellow students had already started to paint the town red due to the end of the semester.

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Using Ariel's complete ignorance of the human world, Luke and Sam had been driving over small country roads instead of highways, veering as much as they dared without him noticing that they were heading in the wrong point of the compass.

They even faked a tire failure, but of course couldn't stall the inevitable for ever.

Late Friday evening they finally reached their destination.

Ariel made them hide deep in the forest between Muhlenburg and Pleasantville and ordered them to set up a camp.

When he went away everyone assumed he would be hunting his 'supper', as he still refused to eat anything else than raw meat, while Steven didn't mind eating the human's canned stores.

Ariel indeed went hunting, but not for food.

He was heading straight for Pleasantville.

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Leaving the factory, Laura Jacobs yawned and giggled tipsily. Damn, what a smashing party that had been! But now it was high time for her to go home and hit the sack.

She wasn't scarred to go home alone late at night, after all this was _Pleasantville,_ the most perfect and peaceful little town on earth, where never happened something bad and sheriffs only existed to write parking tickets.

Little did Laura know that this was about to change, drastically.

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Praise? Flames? I appreciate every comment!


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: Do I look like a filthy rich TV-boss? No? Well, then I guess I don't own BWOC!

Thanks to the two wonderful girls who made my day by reviewing: 66Witch and Animegirl1129. I hope you'll like this chapter, too!!

4. Chapter

Lori was already well into her third cherry beverage and listening to one of Merton's outrageous but funny stories when Tommy suddenly flinched. She frowned, but Merton beat her to question him what was wrong just as the jock jumped up and proceeded to run outside, his friends in tow.

As soon as they were out of earshot from others he explained "I've heard someone scream, I think it was a girl, only a few crossroads from here. We've got to help her. "

While the three rushed along the streets, Tommy had to fight hard against the urge to simply wolf out to be faster.

However, Merton had hammered it into him almost non-stop these last days, no wolfing out, no matter what circumstances. He only prayed that they weren't coming to late to save the unknown girl from whatever danger she was in.

In a back alley they finally found her, crouched behind a dumpster, shirt torn open and shaking with fear; her first reaction at their approach was to jerk back.

"Hey, its o.k., we won't hurt you…look, me and my friends were on the party at the factory, but now we're heading home, and heart you scream and thought you might need help." Tommy offered his friendliest smile as he softly talked to her, trying to calm the frightened girl.

She looked at him and recognised Tommy. "You're the Quarterback of our football team."

"Yes, I'm Tommy, and that are Lori and Merton."

"Hi, I'm Laura" She relaxed visibly and even gave a faint smile; everyone knew that Tommy Dawkins was one of the really good guys, the kind that helps old ladies to cross the street safely.

"Are you injured, should we bring you to a doctor?" Merton asked her.

"No, thanks, but maybe you could walk me home?"

"Of course, that's no problem."

So they brought her house up to her porch where she thanked them and returned Tommy's jacket which he had borrowed her to cover herself properly for the way.

Once Laura was inside Merton turned to his friend. "Ok, are you gonna tell us now what's bothering you so much?" Before the werewolf could even think of some excuse, he continued. "And don't think you can fool me, I saw how much you tensed up in that alley."

Tommy took a deep breath and nodded defeated, his posture deflated instantly.

"I could smell something on her, or better, someone - another werewolf." he said quietly.

"Ariel has arrived in Pleasantville."

Lori gasped at his statement, but Merton remained calm, at least on the outside. "We need to inform Callisto the first thing tomorrow."

Next they walked towards Lori's place, the blond bombshell for once not protesting that she could very well 'guard my own ass on my way home, thank you!', a sure sign how deeply scared she was.

Back in the lair, Tommy went right to the telephone and dialled his parent's number.

"Hey Mom, I just wanted to let you know that I'm crashing at a friend's place tonight…no, everything is alright, he just got a bit too tanked so I drove him home…yeah, see you tomorrow!"

He hung up the phone with a sigh; he really hated lying to his family like this.

Usually when he spent the night with Merton in the lair on weekends he simply told them that he was staying at the dorm to go to the library early next morning to study or something like that, but because the dorm was closed due to the semester break his parents now of course expected him to sleep at home again.

However, with the shock of Ariel having arrived in town fresh in mind there was no way he was letting his mate alone tonight.

While Tommy had made his call Merton had already closed the opaque curtains, locked both doors and was now lightening up some candles. Once the lair was filled with warm, soft candlelight he turned around to his beloved, intent to make him relax and forget all his worries, if only for tonight.

Merton embraced and kissed him slow and lovingly, noticing how tensed up he still was. He started to drag him towards the bed.

"You need to rest Tommy; it won't help anyone if you worry yourself into knots, if anything you need to recruit your strength, for you sure will need every bit of it before this is done and dusted."

The taller sighed. "I know…it's just…this is the first danger that I'm not sure I can protect you of. The mere thought that this bastard gets a hold on you is terrifying me." he confessed and pulled his love into a bone crushing hug. "I couldn't bear to loose you!" The werewolf exclaimed fiercely, shivering with suppressed emotions.

"It's ok, I'm here, you won't loose me …"mumbling soothing words and stroking his back, Merton eventually managed to calm his friend down.

With practiced ease he stripped himself and his lover under kisses and gently pushed him down on the bed so that he was lying on his stomach.

Then he grabbed a bottle from his nightstand, massage oil he himself had specially made, for he loved to pamper the jock after a hard football game or monster fight with a relaxing massage, but all the available products were scented way too strong for a sensitive wolf nose.

Before long the faint smell of pine, oak, vanilla and herbage filled the room as Tommy relaxed under the skilled hands of his lover.

Merton had tried his best to find a blend that resembled the werewolf's beloved woods and was masculine enough so the jock wouldn't earn weird glances in the locker room, but he just couldn't resist adding vanilla to the mix.

This particular scent had a very special meaning for both boys as it reminded them of their first time; so it was no real surprise for the Goth when his lover suddenly turned around under him, already noticeably aroused. Merton just smiled and leaned down to him to kiss him, relishing the friction the movement brought to their groins.

Still sitting astride Tommy's lap he kissed him, slow and sensual at first, their kiss soon turned passionate, especially as the upper started to gyrate with his hips.

The werewolf growled appreciative, eyes flashing yellow; already at the verge of wolfing out he grabbed his mate and turned them around so that he was on top, never once breaking their fervent kiss.

Caressing hands wandering everywhere, he soon noticed that Merton had somehow managed to prepare himself while he had been distracted by the wonderful massage, a truly pleasant surprise.

Ever so slowly Tommy slid home, looking deeply into his mate's eyes. Merton's breath hitched, at the feeling as well as at the love he saw shining in his lover's eyes. They kissed again, but unlike before this kiss was slow and gentle, as were the long, sensuous trusts of the werewolf.

Because, even though both boys usually liked it passionate and even a bit rough sometimes, tonight they needed something different.

Tonight they would be taking their time; savouring the close connection to the one they loved above all others. Driven by the fear to loose one another, every touch was more than just tender, an unspoken declaration of love.

Afterwards they cuddled together as close as possible; Merton barely conscious anymore after the long, exhausting day. Tommy, who was dog-tired too, made sure his beloved was tucked in properly and gave him one last lovingly kiss before falling asleep as well.

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Early next morning the peaceful quietness in the lair was shattered by Lori Baxter hammering at their door until a very sleepy - and very grumpy - Tommy solely clad in boxers opened her.

Completely ignoring him and the evil eye he was giving her she stormed into the lair and quickly turned on the TV, where his mom was on with breaking news.

"Hello and good morning Pleasantville, this is Sally Dawkins broadcasting live from the park, where two young women were ambushed tonight.

The two girls, who want to remain unnamed, are both students at our university and had been on their way home from a party celebrating the end of term at the local disco 'the factory' when it happened.

A so far unknown male person jumped at them from behind and tore their shirts open before letting up on them. Thankfully, the girls are unwounded, though deeply scared.

As a police spokesman told us, the attacker was apparently wearing a Halloween-mask for the two described him as 'furry-faced' with 'yellow glowing eyes'.

They think that this was just some bloat's sick joke, nevertheless are all young women well-advised not to wander around alone at night, especially in dark, unobserved areas, until the culprit is caught. This was Sally Dawkins, broadcasting live from the crime-scene."

Merton turned off the TV, no one said a word; it was quiet enough that one could have heard a pin drop.

Finally, he couldn't stand it anymore and vocalized the silent question hovering in the air. "Why?" No one bothered to ask what he meant, Tommy, who was still gaping at the dark telescreen just shrugged somewhat helplessly.

Surprisingly it was Lori who came up with a suggestion. "Maybe this princess-chick has an idea why that psycho is after some girls instead of Tommy, didn't you wanted to contact her anyway to tell her he's here?"

"Yeah, good idea, but first I need some coffee."

After several cups of really strong coffee and some old muesli bars for a hurried breakfast Merton turned on his pc and activated the link to the werewolf princess´ computer, about two minutes later her concerned face appeared on the screen.

"Merton, Tommy, what's happened that you're calling that early?"

Tommy didn't beat around the bush. "He's here, Cal, Ariel has arrived in Pleasantville. But instead of searching for me he's attacking random girls, three altogether last night."

Callisto looked worried, though also a bit confused. "Why should he attack some human girls…unless…do you know if he bit them?"

"No, he didn't hurt them at all though he would have had the chance to do so…do you think that maybe Ariel just wants to kick up a breeze to decoy Tommy out of shelter?"

"Maybe, but why is he only attacking young girls? There's got to be something amiss that we can't see right now, a factor that we're missing…"

"Could it be that Ariel is not _only_ looking for the sovereign alpha?" asked a new, soft voice and beside Callisto appeared a friendly looking young man with sandy-coloured hair.

The princess smiled warmly at the newcomer. "Guys, this is Jamie, my mate."

"Hey pal, nice to meet you, I'm Tommy, that's my mate Merton and Lori, a good friend who's in the know, too…look, I really don't want to be impolite but right now we don't have the time for small talk and to get to know each other properly, o.k? So, what do you mean, he's not only looking for me?"

"Well, since Ariel is solely attacking young girls but not injuring them, I thought that maybe he's searching for one special girl - his mate. Although he had claimed Callisto to be his mate, Ariel must have had a vision of his real mate during the Lycanamora ritual; and since none other wolf here in Lycantria had a vision of him, his mate must be a human being, most likely a young girl." Jamie's forehead furrowed in deep thought. "Do you know if there was something those attacks had in common?"

"Hm…they were all at night, in dark, unobserved places, and…the shirts!! He tore of the girls´ shirts, and then he lost interest and simply ran away."

"Yes, that's got to be it! Lycanamora visions often describe salient things, like birthmarks, or scars."

"So he doesn't really want to hurt those girls but is simply looking for the one who matches his vision? Huh…must be one really crazy shrew if she's the counterpart to this lunatic."

"Yeah, it's got to be someone very dominant and combative, who likes to fight and is always looking for trouble…do you know a girl that matches this description?"

"Uhm…" Merton couldn't help but looked asquint at Lori, who wasn't really amused by this.

"I'm gonna pretend I didn't notice that look! As if I would ever mate a murderous psycho!" she hissed, then added calmer and purely logical "Besides, I've got werewolf-antigens, and given how much that bastard despises humans he would never mate one he can't even turn."

"Lori's got a point there; I don't think Ariel would ever consider a human worthy enough, in his eyes bitten werewolves are little better than humans, only good for doing the dirty work, but nowhere near being equal. Which is another reason he's so hell-bent to kill you, Tommy." Callisto explained, looking uneasy for voicing Ariel's weird racist prejudices, but Tommy took it with humour.

"A bitten alpha who's peace loving and uses his strength only to help people and is mated to a human…guess I'm really a red flag to him."

They all laughed at that, and after a short talk about how the repairs of the tunnel were progressing, they ended their conversation, feeling a bit reassured now that the initial shock of Ariel's arrival was over.

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Due to the recent events the youth of Pleasantville quickly came up with a plan how to protect the girls respectively how to quieten their worried parents so they won't lock their daughters up, now at the beginning of the semester break when everyone just wanted to party: a home-bringing service.

Whoever girls had no boyfriend to bring them home would be accompanied by at least one strong guy, mostly a member of the football team, to make sure they would reach their home safely.

Since nothing really serious had happened and the police itself thought it had been just a hoax, many girls weren't worried at all but simply wanted use this opportunity to flirt with the jocks, making sure that they would be escorted home by their crush.

Tommy, who had volunteered too, was the most desired candidate; the girls were all but fighting about who would get to be walked home by him.

The first night the plan seemed to work as no further girls were attacked but on the second it failed totally, and in a way worse than anyone had expected.

While the girl was just attacked like the others before and got off lightly with only a few scratches, the guy that had walked with her seemed to have vanished into thin air.

All that the frightened girl could tell was that she had heard a bloodcurdling scream that had ended abruptly and when she looked up again the assailant _and_ the jock were gone.

The police was totally at a loss, but Tommy was terrified to the very core of his being.

For with his keen wolf nose he could clearly smell traces of human blood at the crime scene.

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Now, what do you think? Is Ariel really attacking those girls because he's searching for his mate – or is all this part of a sinister plan?


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: Still, I don't own a thing, neither the show nor any of its characters…not even Rasputin!

As always, a big 'Thank you!' goes to 66Witch, my most loyal reviewer who never leaves me in the lurch.

About your suggestion: I can't answer to that right now, but it will be explained in the next chapter, so you've got to be patient for a little while longer. Sorry!

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5. Chapter

Ferris McMan, Ferryman for his friends and team colleagues, woke up with what he thought was a murderous hangover. His head hurt like a bitch plus he felt nauseous and had one mighty mental blackout.

The last thing he could remember was having some weird dream about a furry monster with yellow glowing eyes.

'Guess I shouldn't watch horror movies while getting hammered any…'

His brain froze simultaneous with his body and for a moment Ferris could have sworn even his heart stopped beating because of the shock as his blurry vision finally became clear.

He wasn't in his bed, heck he wasn't even somewhere near his house!

Instead he was lying on the forest floor and on the other side of the little clearing sat the very monster of dreams, sneering.

Ferris head started spinning, which was when he noticed that the fright had literally taken his breath away. As he gasped for air, he heard the monster laugh; obviously he/it was amused by his fear.

"I'm gonna hunt me a meal after the long night, you'll stay here and watch them. And make sure that this pathetic human understands whose word goes around here."

"Yes, my alpha."

Ferris jerked around, only now noticing the other figures, two frightened looking young men much like him and another monster with fur and glowing eyes, only that this was smaller than the one which had kidnapped him.

The taller, darker monster disappeared between the surrounding trees, intently watched by the smaller, which remained tense and alert for a few more seconds. Then he relaxed visibly, and together with his tension his fur vanished, leaving behind an ordinary if not friendly looking guy about his age.

Ferris was still gaping at him when one of the other two approached him.

"Hey bro, how about a strong coffee, you sure look like you could need one, and some early breakfast, too. Then we'll explain to you the way the cookie crumbles in here…and don't be afraid of Stephen, I know this fur-thing looks kinda scary, but he's in just the same boat as you and me, it's the other guy, Ariel, one's got to beware of. He's a real psycho."

Ferris nodded, more than a bit dazed due to the recent events, but allowed Luke to lead him over to where a small bonfire was burning in front of a camping tent.

Two mugs of hot coffee, a few defrosted deep-frozen waffles and after being told the probably weirdest story he had ever heard Ferris was feeling surprisingly good – well, as good as one could feel in the middle of a forest after being kidnapped by a lunatic werewolf, having breakfast with another, friendly werewolf and being told that he would become one at the next full moon too.

He took a deep, shuddering breath. "Ok, just let me get this straight: this nutcase Ariel needs to kill our werewolf here in Pleasantville to become the king of all werewolves so that he can seize the world domination and enslave the human race?"

"Yeah, that's about sums it up. That's why it's extremely important that you don't give Ariel any information that could help him finding the resident alpha."

"No problem, for I have absolutely no idea who our werewolf is. The rumour is only going about that he's a real good guy, you know, rescuing lost kittens out of trees, solely beating up the bad ones; basically that he keeps our town safe."

Behind him, Luke and Sam were all but beaming at these words; after all they would be at this unknown werewolf's mercy when it came down to the cure. Hearing a local inhabitant describing him as kind of a night-in-shining-armour eased their worries and gave them hope.

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Despite the early hour, no one was sleeping inside the lair. The latest development had shaken them all, but no one more than Tommy, who was pacing back and forth like a caged animal. The usually calm and collected young man was totally outraged.

"He's got Ferryman! Lord only knows if he's still alive. I've got to stop this madcap before he slaughters even more innocent people."

"Tommy, please calm down, you're beside yourself. Try to think rationally for a moment: there's absolutely no evidence that Ariel has killed your buddy, there was so little blood that the police didn't even noticed it. Why should a lunatic werewolf bother to hide the corpse if he had killed someone – and why should he have killed this jock anyway, Ferris was absolutely no threat to him.

There's only one logically conclusion: Ariel has kidnapped him to interrogate him for clues to your identity. And even if he has bitten him, that would be nothing we can't fix; I've got enough of the cure in store to treat half of Pleasantville and Callisto says they'll easily be here before the next full moon."

Tommy sighed heavily; he knew Merton was right, as always. "But why had it got to be Ferryman of all people, he's such a nice guy, he doesn't deserve to be drawn into this mess."

"No one does, but as to why…we know that Ariel isn't stupid, he probably figured out that with your werewolf-strength you're a member of the team. I wouldn't be surprised if he's attacking more of the football players in the hope that one of them can lead him to you. Anyway, you should be staying indoors after sunset."

"No way!! I'm not going to hide inside like a frightened five-year-old!"

Before Merton could respond their talk was interrupted by an eerie howl. The Goth rushed over to the window and opened it to hear more.

"Can you pinpoint the origin?"

Tommy shook his head. "No, it's echoing too much, it could come from everywhere."

Another howl, this one definitely held a mocking undertone, a clear challenge to the other alpha in the vicinity. Tommy gritted his teeth; the urge to reply was almost unbearable, his animal side begged to be released to defend its territory against this insolent intruder.

"He only wants to provoke you Tommy."

"Yeah, and it is working."

"I know it must be hard for you to put up with a foreign, hostile alpha on your ground, but it's not forever. In about two weeks the tunnel-repairs are finished, then Ariel is as good as done; and by the next full moon you'll be the only alpha in town again."

One last howl, angry but also frustrated that the challenge hadn't been accepted. Merton closed the window again.

"Come on, let's go to bed big guy, we both need to catch up on some sleep before Lori comes in later."

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Around noon Lori knocked at their door, as Merton opened she handed over the obligate family sized bin of fried chicken from the hungry bucket that accompanied every crisis meeting in the lair. The Goth noted that she looked just as tired as him and Tommy; obviously they weren't the only ones who had scarcely slept.

She sat down on and took a deep breath. "Guys, I've thought about the situation at hand really hard last night, and I think I might have an idea how to stop Ariel, but it's very risky."

Knowing Lori, Merton easily translated that into 'it borders on insane'. He was worried as to what the blonde was up to for he was sure that Tommy was so desperate that he would clutch to every straw.

Indeed, the werewolf leaned forward and asked eagerly "What do you have in mind Lori?"

"Well, we know that Ariel is attacking single young women or couples where the male part is a jock from our team, right? And he always tears open the girls' shirts first, even as he attacked the couple he went for the girl before moving on to the player." Both guys nodded.

"So…what if we set a trap, with me and Tommy as decoy birds, I could easy hide a dozen silver amulets under a high-necked blouse, when Ariel is tearing it open he comes in contact with it, in addition we douse him with our silver-nitrate spray, he gets weakened, so that Tommy can knock him out cold without problems. Then we chain him up here in the lair until the guards from Lycantria arrive and let them deal with him."

Merton blinked surprised, thinking about that this was definitely the last Ariel would expect. "That's so crazy it could actually work."

Tommy beamed, he was so tired of sitting and waiting, finally they could do something!

The little group started their preparations at once; Lori tried out how she could wear as much silver as possible around her neck without it being conspicuous, Merton rechecked the silver nitrate sprays and brought out his thickest chains while Tommy fetched his angry badgers jacket from home so that everyone would be able to recognise him as a member of the team tonight – especially one psychotic werewolf.

He also brought his dad's toolbox and the sturdiest screw anchor he could find and doweled Merton's chains into the floor of the lairs tiny bathroom.

This was where they planed to imprison Ariel; no one would find him here, even Becky, when she entered the lair once in a leap year never went there.

Drenched in silver nitrate, numerous silver amulets and stuff all over his body and them taking turns around the clock watching him it should be impossible for this psycho to escape once more.

Now they only needed to capture the bastard.

As soon as it was completely dark Tommy and Lori began their mission 'entice the mad wolf' by sauntering through all of Pleasantville's dark corners, back alleys and of course the park, they even planed to walk around the cemetery later on.

And if they wouldn't succeed tonight, they would simply try again tomorrow.

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Ariel sat high up in a tree, observing the area, and grinned.

He had spotted the perfect target, a young couple walking through the park, totally oblivious to danger that was lurking in the shadows. They probably deemed themselves save because the man was a strong one, tall, broad-shouldered, a born football player.

The werewolf grinned; those attributes won't be of any help, for he was much stronger than any human could ever be.

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Lori sighed; she was dog-tired and really wanted to go home.

"Honestly, my feet are killing me! When we catch this psycho I'm gonna give him one extra-kick in his furry butt for coming so late. "

"If we catch him, Lori…if not, I suggest you put on more comfortable shoes tomorrow night."

"We're supposed to look like on a date and not like and not like on a hiking trip!"

Just as Tommy wanted to reply he heard something and cursed. Without bothering to explain things to Lori he stormed off, she followed him as fast as she could on her high heels.

By the time she reached the park she found a distraught cheerleader clinging to Tommy and sobbing into his shoulder.

The girl cried for her friend over and over again, unbelieving how such a big, strong guy could be taken away. The jock looked over to the blonde, clearly depressed.

As predicted, Ariel had attacked another couple tonight, but alas not them.

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Ariel fumed with rage. Although he had found the male a widget called 'yearbook' listed as the strongest player of the team easily enough for it was the only black, he still hadn't found the one he was looking for!

Just another worthless human, who also didn't knew a thing about the Pleasantville werewolf, except of course how _good_ he was.

A humanitarian wolf - the mere thought made him want to puke…but what else could one expect from a _bitten_ one.

Ariel tossed his head back and howled his wrath into the sky.

And he vowed then and there that he won't rest before he had exterminated this disgrace to the werewolf-race with his own claws.


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

Thanks to: 66Witch and Lady Mayhem for reviewing, your question/hunch will be answered in this chapter – well, at least partially.

And sorry that it took me so long to update this time, but I caught myself a really nasty cold and somehow writing is a tad difficult while coughing out ones lungs.

But now I'm better, and hoping to post the next chapter sooner.

Another night was over; another member of the football team was kidnapped. To say the mood in the lair was low would have been the understatement of the year.

Merton sighed "At least we know now that our assumption was right, Ariel is focusing his attacks on players and their girlfriends."

"Yeah…it was just bad luck that it hit them and not us Tommy." Lori tried her best to cheer up her friend who sat slumped over on the couch and hadn't spoken a word since they had brought the shaken girl home to her grateful parents.

"It won't happen again" stated the jock deadly quiet.

"What do you mean?" Asked Merton, clearly worried at his lover's antics.

"I'll make sure that tomorrow night won't be any other couples on the streets, even if I have to talk to every member of my team personally. First Ferryman and now Rock…this has got to end. Now." Tommy spoke calm, but determined. He turned to Lori "Are you still in on it?"

"Damn sure I am!" The blonde smiled, she sure had her flaws but if there was one thing she wasn't it was a coward.

"Good, then we'll meet here again in the evening, same procedure as last night."

"Ok guys, but until then I'll need some beauty sleep!" And off she went.

"We should rest too, its going to be a long night." Suggested Merton and kissed him softly while dragging him towards the bed.

For the first time in what felt like an eternity Tommy relaxed a bit and even managed to smile, touched at how much the other cared.

"Do you have any idea how much you mean to me?"

Tommy held his beloved Goth tight, nuzzling his spiky hair and taking in his unique scent which always calmed the werewolf.

"Honestly Mert, I wouldn't be able to cope with all this mess without you. I love you."

Merton beamed up at his mate "I love you too, Tommy; and don't worry, everything's gonna be alright."

"Let's hope so, by goodness."

The two fell asleep; cuddled together like a bunch of puppies and slept surprisingly well despite their worries, exhausted from the long, tiring day.

They actually slept in almost until the time Lori came along, which was a good thing, given the strenuous night that was lying ahead of them – though not even Merton with all his overactive imagination could have guessed just how long the upcoming night would be going to get.

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It took far less persuasion than Tommy had feared to make sure that he and Lori would be the only couple on the streets tonight, actually no player he had called thought about leaving the house after sunset.

The news that 'the Rock', their tower of strength in defence, had been subjugated had obviously shocked the whole team. If even an almost seven feet tall, heavily muscled guy wasn't save on the streets anymore, who was?

With the second youth gone missing in just as many days the police was about to impose a curfew, and at the townhouse they were racking their brains non-stop, but to no avail.

Pleasantville was in a grave crisis, which hit the people all the more because they weren't used to severe trouble in their usually peaceful small town at all.

Fortunately Lori's parents were on holiday and Tommy's way too busy to notice that he wasn't at home hence both hadn't to worry about them and could follow their plan undisturbed.

With a bit luck this nightmare would be over before sunrise and Ariel would be chained up and locked away in the lair.

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"Damn! I really can't understand why Mom insisted on you walking me over to Heidi – as if a scrawny Freak like you could defend me against anything! Anyway, I don't want her parents to spot you, got that? In the end they stop her from seeing me because they think I'm as crazy as you."

"If you hadn't forgotten your stuff at your friends´ house in the first place we weren't in this mess at all. Believe it or not, I could think of something better to do than walking my kid sister around, too!"

"And what, searching the net for bikini-pictures of Buffy the vampire slayer? God, what have I done to be cursed with something like you as a brother?"

Becky kept on bickering, but Merton was only listening with half an ear. He was worried, nervously clutching the spray flacon in his pocket as he prayed that they would reach the house of Becky's blasted friend without incident.

Alas, his hearse was at the shop – something with the gears, no wonder, the car was almost as old as Merton himself – so they had to walk. On top of that Tommy and Lori were in a dead zone so he couldn't call them.

He had made Becky wear the biggest of his silver crosses for protection, but aside from that and his spray they were totally defenceless. The Goth silently cursed his bad luck and hurried his sister on to walk faster the best he could.

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Ever since he had gone on this mad trip Ariel had been very impatient for he knew that the clock was ticking and that a failure would mean his end, but tonight he was totally off his chops.

A whole week already and he hadn't found the slightest clue to the whereabouts of the damned Pleasantville werewolf. He hadn't even reacted to his howled challenge!

That guy had to be a total coward, a weakling without any backbone; and someone like _this_ was the sovereign alpha of all werewolves?!

But no matter how much Ariel fumed at this blatant injustice, the fact remained that this sissy was the one obstacle between him and his rightful place on the throne and needed to be eliminated. If only he could find him!

Considering what was on his mind, it was no wonder that Ariel was in an extraordinary foul mood and wanted to blow off some steam. And what could be more amusing than attacking each and every wretched human he came across?

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"I don't care! We're not going to take the shortcut across the unlit cemetery – have you forgotten that there's a psycho running around?"

"Aww, come on Freaker, it would save us at least five minutes! Besides, I'm sure that this mysterious masked madcap is just a big swindle of the football team, or why else should he 'attack' only players and their girls?" Becky grinned triumphantly at her logic conclusion, but Merton remained dead serious.

"These attacks aren't jokes, Becky, they are real."

"Oh; and why are you so sure mister know-it-all?"

"Because my best friend happened to be the captain of the football team and is genuine concerned about his buddies – what he wouldn't be if it were just a hoax, right?"

Becky didn't answer, but her grin vanished and she started walking faster almost instantly.

Suddenly, Merton was knocked over from behind, scrambling back onto his feet he already heard Becky panicked screams, followed by a pained yelp.

He looked up and saw his sister with her shirt torn open, revealing the large silver cross underneath and an extremely angry, growling werewolf, holding his burned paw.

Frantically he fumbled for his spray, but his fingers encountered only shards and wetness, the flacon hadn't survived the fall.

By this time Ariel started stalking towards Becky with clearly murderous intent. Merton froze, ok, so he and his sis weren't always the best friends, but that didn't mean he wanted to see her get torn into pieces!

For once, he acted without thinking; he jumped between the psycho and her, screaming "Run, Becky!" She took to her heels at high speed, and Merton was alone with one pissed off werewolf.

"So, you're a werewolf, right? How is it, are you fond of basketball like Michael J. Fox in 'Teenage Werewolf' or are you more into underground parties like the ones in 'American Werewolf in Paris'? We have a real great hangout here in Pleasantville; it's called the factory, and since it is Friday you could gets two cherry beverages at the price of one…"

Merton, nervous as hell, was in full babbling-mode, hoping against hope that if only he could stall enough time Tommy would somehow come around and save him, like always.

But since tonight really wasn't his lucky night, Ariel seemed to get only angrier by the second. The werewolf barred his teeth and began to back him against the wall.

"Or maybe if you're hungry, we've got this fast food restaurant which serves yummy fried chicken pieces, they surely taste a lot better than me, I mean, look, at me, I'm nothing but skin and bones, you would probably damage your teeth.."

"SHUT UP!!"

Ariel snarled and grabbed him by the collar of his shirt, effectively lifting him up a few inches above the ground.

The garment, clearly not made for such strain, began to tear…and Ariel froze; his growl died on his lips and his eyes turned wide.

With one swipe of his paw he tore the shirt completely open. Merton winced as the sharp claws cut into his skin but even more so when he noticed where exactly the other was staring: his shoulder; or more precisely, the scarred bite wound on it, the one that marked him as Tommy's mate.

For a split-second he allowed himself the delusion that his status as mate would save him, but then Ariel grinned maliciously.

"My, my, so the Pleasantville werewolf is a fag…figures."

His eyes racked over the Goth's small frame. "I wonder if he's just as pathetic and girly as you…well, I'm gonna see myself soon, hm?"

Ariel started laughing manically; finally he would get his paws on his opponent.

Because no matter how cowardly the other was, no wolf could resist the instinctual urge to protect his mate.

The insane laughter made Merton shiver; he struggled with all his strength, desperately trying to break free, but Ariel merely snorted amused and simply knocked him out. Then he slung the human over his shoulder and proceeded to make his way back to his secret camp deep inside the forest.

He was in high spirits and no hurry, so he took his time and made sure to leave a good scent trail for the Pleasantville werewolf to follow.

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Becky was running totally headless through the streets, crying bloody murder. Her mind was in overload, too shocked to comprehend what had happened let alone to know what to do now.

Luckily, her screaming didn't go unnoticed.

Her first reaction after running into someone was to scream again, until she recognised who she had bumped into, the blonde who was always hanging out with Merton and Tommy.

"Becky, what has happened, are you injured?" Lori asked while she tried to calm the hysteric girl.

Meanwhile Tommy took a discrete sniff off Becky, causing his eyes to go from worried brown to angry flashing yellow even before Becky had answered.

"Th-there was this…_thing_, it attacked Freaker and me, and then Merton told me to run and I did but Merton stayed behind and…oh god, Merton!" She wailed.

"Where were you attacked?" Tommy's voice was calm and collected, belying the storm inside of him.

"A-at the north side of the c-cemetery."

"Ok, I'll go and check, Lori, you take care of Becky." His voice was still eerily calm, but his fur was already sprouting. Lori knew that the werewolf was beside himself with fear for his mate and couldn't think straight right now, and that she had to act quick if she wanted to stop her friend from doing something stupid.

So she hastily told Becky to go home and lock all doors, and hurried after the now fully unwolfed jock.

Lori caught up with him at the cemetery, where Tommy kneeled down, sniffing so hart that his nostrils were fluttering.

"It was here…." He picked up a little shred of dark cloth, smelled it thoroughly and handed it Lori.

She instantly recognised the black satin of Merton's shirt, but was irritated that it was wet for it hadn't rained the whole week. Her confusion turned to horror as she realised that it was _blood_ the material was soaked with, to the point that touching it was staining her fingers.

"Oh, my…"Lori was at a loss, what could she say that would stop Tommy from running amok and right into what could only be a deadly trap? Nevertheless, she had to try.

"Tommy…you know that Merton wouldn't want you to endanger yourself…"

"Stop, it Lori; I know you've only got the best intentions, but I already know what you're going to tell me, that it's a set-up to kill me, with Merton as bait, and that I'm not thinking straight, and should sit down and think of a plan, instead of running into doom with my eyes wide open, but I'll tell you something: I don't care! I'd rather get torn into bloody shreds than live to see his abused corpse!!"

Tommy took a deep breath "Look, just wish me luck ok?" He gave a little smile which Lori returned – until he continued, almost casually "And in case I'm not back at dawn, inform Callisto that I'm dead and Ariel has won."

Then he rushed off, leaving a desperate Lori behind. Never before in her life had she felt so utterly helpless. 'Please, God, Buddha, _anyone_, keep an eye on them' she prayed silently, as the first tears started to run down her cheeks.

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The werewolf ran through the woods at high-speed, though _not_ into the direction of Ariel's a bit too obvious scent trail.

Beside the piece of Merton's shirt he had found a few dark hairs – wolf hairs. His mate must have torn them out while fighting the bastard.

There were several scents lingering in the little strand of fur, including one he recognised very well. If the situation hadn't been so serious, the werewolf would have laughed.

Did this impudent intruder really think he could hide from him in his own territory?

No way. He knew now where the bastard was hiding, and he was going to use this knowledge.


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: O.K, I confess, they don't belong to me…do you really have to rub it in?

As always thanks to 66Witch and Lady Mayhem for their reviews, they mean so much to me!! About your suggestion: Since the answer contains a spoiler for this chapter I'll for once answer at the end.

Note: I just couldn't resist adding a few lines of one of my favourite songs in this story, because they simply fit the mood perfectly. It was actually this song that gave this story its title. It's 'stand my ground' from within temptation. And now, on with the story!

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7. Chapter

When Ariel returned with a gothic youth, Stephens's first reaction was confusion. It simply didn't make any sense, how could this poor guy help Ariel to find the Pleasantville werewolf?

However the dark haired alpha acted as if the pale young man was the key to all his problems, he wore a shit-eating grin and was even humming merrily out of satisfaction.

Unable to fight his curiosity any longer he carefully approached the other, just as Ariel was tying up one wrist of his captive. "May I ask who this human is?"

The grin grew even bigger. "The fucking Holy Grail."

He threw the loose end of the rope over a high branch, caught it and used it to tie the other wrist, too, in a way that both arms were pulled high above the head. The whole body was lifted a few inches off the ground, so that the unconscious Goth was standing on tiptoe, most of his weight was riding on his shoulder joints.

Steven winced at the uncomfortable posture, his bewilderment increasing with every minute. Why bind this harmless if not weak and most of all unconscious human to a tree who didn't pose a threat to anyone?

Just as he was about to ask again, the head of the bound guy fell to the side, revealing his shoulder and on it….Stephen took a sharp breath.

"Are you completely insane?! He's a mate - totally untouchable even by the oldest laws!"

His outraged yell surprised everyone, including himself, but Stephen couldn't help it.

This wasn't only going against every law but also against the most deep-rooted instincts of every wolf.

In this very moment he understood in perfect clarity that Ariel, despite all his ramblings and ravings about the good old times, didn't gave a shit about their ancestors but only used their ways as an excuse for his mad blood thirst.

Alpha or not, he was nothing but a rabid beast that needed to be taken care of.

Unfortunately, Stephen was nowhere near in the position to do so.

"WHAT did you just say?" snarled Ariel, having recovered from his beta's outburst and grabbed him by the throat.

"The only reason I don't kill you right away for your demeanour is that I want you to be witness of my ascent to the sovereign alpha of all werewolves" he growled while punching the smaller "but as soon as I'm done with the Pleasantville sissy you're next!" He finished with a last, mean hit that cracked at least one rib. Then he tossed him aside and gave order to set up a trap for the awaited werewolf, using a net from the two biology students.

Stephen collapsed as a wheezing heap to Merton's feet and fought hard against the urge to cry. He felt all alone and was sure it would take a miracle to avert the looming disaster.

Little did he know that somebody out there had been watching the whole encounter and was preparing to give Ariel what would hopefully be a nasty surprise.

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Across from their camp at the lakeside Tommy was crouching low on his cliff and observed their every move.

Knowing all the shortcuts in his territory by heart he had arrived here all but simultaneous with the other, thankfully the distinct smell of the mud of his lake lingering in Ariel's fur had betrayed the location of the camp. Because even though he was determined to get Merton back as soon as possible, he wasn't so stupid to run blindly into an obvious trap.

Watching his mate getting tied to tree was hard, but he gritted his teeth and stayed put, even as Ariel beat the crap out of the other, smaller werewolf.

'That's got to be Steven' he mused 'and Ferryman and Rock are over there, by the tent.'

Beside the football players he could also see two strangers, all four where frightened at the aggressive display of the mad alpha. His instincts told him that they all had been bitten, but weren't transformed yet, so he didn't had to worry about them interfering.

'Good…so it's going to be just me and Psycho.' Hearing Ariel's command to build a snare he shook his head. 'Sorry dude, but I won't make it _that_ easy for you.'

The werewolf backed away from the edge, he had seen enough; now it was time to prepare for the fight. He closed his eyes and raised his paw to his nose. The scent of Merton's blood was still clinging to his fingers, driving his animal side wild.

Pictures flashed before his minds eye, faster and faster, like a storm inside of him that was gaining momentum; Merton's beaming smile, the cute way he blushed, his laugh, how he moaned and writhed beneath him…the werewolf snarled, he could feel his heart beat increasing along with his fury.

_I won't give in,__ I won't give up, no more denying, I gotta face it_

Once already had the feral rage triggered by the scent of his mate's blood helped him to do something extraordinary.

Back then it had only been breaking free of a magical trance, whereas today he needed the energy-boost to defeat a mad alpha that was most probably stronger than him.

_I can feel that it's time for me to face it, can I take it?_

He looked up at the depressingly dark night sky. Not even the smallest crescent could be found among the stars. His last shred of common sense screamed at him that it was a really bad idea to attack tonight of all nights, but what he had said to Lori was true: he would rather die than risk Merton's life.

The uproar inside of him escalated until it reached its breaking point, it was as if a silent explosion happened inside of his mind, erasing all fears and doubts but leaving sheer determination behind.

He didn't know if this determination was rooted in his wolfish instincts or in his human heart or both, but frankly, he didn't care anymore. He was going to save his mate or die trying.

The werewolf rose and started running the short distance around the lake, mindful to stay upwind. As the camp came within sight he slowed down to approach soft-footed.

_All I know for sure is I'm trying, I will always stand my ground_

With one last, deep breath he squared his shoulders, drew himself to his full height and stepped through the final line of trees into the clearing.

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At first, no one even noticed him; they were all staring in the direction of where Ariel had arrived with Merton.

The mad, dark-haired alpha was pacing impatiently. "Where the hell is that blasted Pleasantville werewolf?! Don't tell me he's so stupid he can't even follow a scent trail!"

"You're expecting someone?"

Six heads whirled around, gaping at him as if he had just declared the rebirth of Jesus or was sporting a second head, though for different reasons.

Luke, Sam and the two football players were simply surprised and generally frightened at the sight of yet one more werewolf, whereas Stephen was amazed that the other had managed to creep up on them that perfectly.

Ariel however was mainly angry that his plan with the snare had failed miserably, especially because the tall, muscular werewolf in front of him countered his expectations drastically.

Deep inside he had to admit that maybe this fight wasn't going to be the walk in the park he had expected. Nevertheless, he had absolutely no doubt that in the end, he would be victorious.

Stephen too was visually assessing the others werewolf's strength and felt a ray of hope, both fighters were about the same height and weight, and from what he had heard from Callisto had the Pleasantville werewolf fought off various enemies in the past.

However, one look up into the sky shattered almost all his hopes immediately, for tonight was new moon, and while Ariel would barely be affected by this the bitten werewolf would surely miss the moons energy sorely.

He sighed heavily; it would indeed take a miracle for the resident alpha to defeat the mad wolf.

Tommy used the initial shock of the others to cast a quick glance at Merton's dangling form, assured by the steady rise and fall of his chest but enraged by the swelling and forming bruise covering half of the side of the Goth's face. The bastard who had done this to his mate was _so_ going to pay for it! His gaze shifted back to Ariel and automatically started to growl.

At the sound Ariel snapped back to reality and answered with a growl of his own.

They started to circle one another with glowing eyes, teeth barred and claws at the ready while the spectators scrambled to get out of their way.

Unlike in action movies, there were no taunts, no marrowy punch lines; they just pounced on each other and tried to sink their claws and fangs as deep into the others flesh as possible. Blood was shed almost instantly as the growling became punctuated with pained yelps, creating a dreadful noise of battle.

The watching humans were scared stiff at the brutal savageness, only now realising that this really was a life and death fight as the grass at the combatants feet turned from green to glossy red and chunks of fur wafted around.

Stephen, who was more familiar with brawls between werewolves, was deeply impressed how well the other was doing, so far their fighting strength was equal, the sheer rage of the Pleasantville werewolf making up for the advantage Ariel had by being a born werewolf; if it hadn't been for new moon, the dark wolf wouldn't have stood a chance.

For a moment the fight came to a halt when both needed to catch their breath. They stood there, heavily panting, their clothes no more than bloody, tattered rags but still glowering at the other.

Ariel was bewildered that he couldn't beat the bitten one; and, on the inside, slowly but surely getting desperate, for he too was bleeding from at least a dozen deep gashes and knew that if he didn't end this fight soon it would be all over for him. His glance drifted behind his opponent towards the still enchained human, and had to fight back a grin as an idea came to him.

Like he had already proven before, Ariel wasn't about to resort to mean, shabby tricks to get what he wanted.

Out of the blue Ariel grabbed a stone from the ground and hurled it.

Of course Tommy managed to duck down in time, but the sound of a stone impinging on flesh showed that the projectile had hit its target nonetheless. A fresh wave of the smell of Merton's blood assaulted his senses and he instantly turned his head around to check up on him.

It was the instinctive reaction of a wolf worried for his mate that Ariel had been relying on, and he used it without remorse. He brought his hands together to one big fist and clobbered them over Tommy's head with all his might.

A human would have been dead on the spot; the werewolf was merely knocked over, but that was enough time for the cheat to ram a knee to his groin, closely followed by one to his stomach.

Raging pain exploded inside of Tommy, sending him to his knees and temporary blinding him.

Fighting for air, he was only dimly aware of the shouts of protest from the viewers, as he suddenly found himself on his back in a chokehold with Ariel kneeling on his chest.

"You know, I really hadn't expected a bitten scum like you to fight back so well…maybe I should let you live on for a bit, let you watch how I have some fun with your little boy-toy…I mean, if he's good enough that you even marked him, he's got to be a pretty decent lay!"

Ariel grinned down on the desperately struggling werewolf. "At least I hope so, he's got to be good for something because his scrawny body sure won't make a good meal unless some fattening. But don't worry, I've got plenty 'cream' for him to feed up, and if you're a good little puppy I might even let you screw him one last time before I'll kill you both. As you can see, my munificence is nearly boundless!" He laughed manically.

While the evil bastard kept on bragging how he would abuse Merton, Tommy's struggles grew weaker and weaker, the tough fight, blood loss and continued strangling finally taking its toll.

To any outsider, he seemed to have given up and accepting his fate, but on the inside, his wolf had a plan.

There wasn't enough time to explain things to his human side, but Tommy trusted his canine side enough to give over control, though the thought of zoning out during a fight didn't suit well with him.

Astoundingly the wolf didn't even try a new attack, but instead sent their combined mind into trance. Within seconds Tommy was back in his very first Lycanamora vision of his mate, Merton's silhouette inside the bright, glowing moon.

He could feel the immense power of this light flooding his mind, but alas, without a moon shining in the real world he couldn't release it.

…._pale like the moon_…

'What?' These words...he knew them, but where? 'What are you trying to tell me?'

Again the picture of Merton inside the moon…

Tommy's eyes snapped open and flew over to where Merton's unconscious form was hanging, shirt torn open, scratches along his abdomen, fresh blood trickling over his skin…skin as _pale like the moon_. For the first time since this fight was on, he truly felt a sense of victory.

Only Stephen saw how the chestnut haired werewolf suddenly opened his eyes and looked intensely at his mate.

He was totally stunned, those weren't the eyes of a werewolf who had given up and was about to die, hell no - they were glowing brightly yellow, like the eyes of a werewolf about to transform!

But that couldn't be…it was impossible….Stephens breath caught in his throat.

Ariel didn't even saw it coming; he was totally caught of guard. Four massive paws, each hitting him with the force of sledgehammer, sent him flying high up into the air.

The animal leaped to its feet before he even hit the ground again, and by the time he did the mighty wolf was already above him. The harsh landing had driven the air out of his lungs, and now he found himself eye to eye with one utterly pissed, fully transformed alpha wolf.

Before he could react, let alone transform himself, the snarling beast had sunk its fangs deep into his throat. Ariel couldn't even scream, his arms flayed helplessly as the wolf shook its head and finally tore a muzzleful of flesh out of him. Blood gushed out of the raw hole, and although his heart was still beating, technically he was already dead.

The wolf spit the chunk of flesh out and turned away from the dying Ariel, incensible to his further destiny, and hurried over to his mate. One swipe of his sharp claws easily severed Merton's bonds and he slumped down, caught by Tommy who had automatically changed back into his humanoid werewolf shape.

A visual as well olfactory once-over revealed that Merton, although still unconscious, was nowhere near in a life threatening condition. Tommy sighed with relief – and became suddenly aware of the five figures kneeling in a respectful distance, eyes cast down and trembling with fear.

It was Stephen who had told the others go down on their knees and avert eye contact, anxious about what might enrage the unknown werewolf. As the silence became unbearable he cleared his throat nervously. "We're awaiting your orders, alpha."

Tommy blinked, totally taken aback at their behaviour, until he realised that they were only being cautious, for all they knew of him was that he had just killed someone. A proper explanation was definitely in order, but right now he hadn't the time for them to get to know him, Merton needed medical attention and he was on his last legs, so he applied Occam´s razor.

"Uhm…ok: Rock and Ferryman, you two go home to your families, but first think of a good explanation as to where you were these last days."

He turned to the biology students "You two can contact your friends, relatives or whoever is missing you, but I don't want you to leave yet. If you need stores, buy them over in Muhlenburg, for Pleasantville is still in an uproar thanks to Ariel's attacks and two strangers would attract too much attention right now.

Stephen, you're coming over to my place tomorrow afternoon…"here he hesitated shortly, for he didn't want to reveal his address and thus his identity just yet. "Just follow my scent-trail; then we can use the link to Lycantria." Tommy smiled genuinely. "I'm sure Callisto would love to see herself that you're ok, she was worried sick about you. "

"I want to see you all in three days at sundown at the little white pavilion in our park, and then we can talk about everything, including whatever questions you might have. See you!" And off he went, leaving five stunned people behind.

The two football players were thunderstruck that this strange werewolf knew their nicknames, what could only mean that he was indeed a part of their team.

Luke and Sam were astounded that he cared about their worried families, something Ariel would have never bothered about; they took it as a good sign.

Stephen smiled, for this little speech had proven everything his cousin had told him about the Pleasantville werewolf being one of the good ones, and moreover now that he had seen him himself he knew that he was a good alpha too, with his dominant yet caring attitude, for those were the attributes of a _true_ alpha. He was sure that everything would come out all right now.

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Tommy was running through the woods towards Pleasantville, holding an injured Merton protectively in his arms.

He was utterly drained, to the point that he barely managed to stay wolfed out, but knew he couldn't stop and rest, for Merton needed help, now.

Though where could he bring his beloved, the hospital was out of question, with Merton's bruised writs screaming abduction and his own state of clothing, he would get arrested before he could even try to explain – not that he had an explanation, just as little as to why his best friend had claw marks on his upper body. Nevertheless, the Goth needed medical treatment.

Tommy racked his brains and just as he reached the outskirts of Pleasantville it hit him, and he mentally slapped himself for not thinking of it earlier.

Before his mom had married his dad and later on started her carrier as a broadcaster, she'd been a nurse.

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So you guys thought that Tommy would be in trouble when his two football buddies and potential werewolves-to-be get to know his true identity? Think again! Now how do you think will Sally Dawkins react when she sees her younger son in totally torn, blood-soaked clothing?

Oh yes, the fight against Ariel may be won, but the trouble for Tommy is far from over!


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: I don't a thing….not even the smallest scale on Rasputin's tail. Pity!!

Thanks to my two loyal reviewers Lady Mayhem and 66Witch….its so nice to see that there's someone out there who enjoys this story!

Note: After all the action of the last chapter this one seems a bit slow, but bear with me; it's a necessary set-up for more upcoming trouble - and if you're reading closely you'll already find a tiny beginning of a brand new plot line…which will mostly take place in the third part that I'm already planning.

But enough of the future, now on with the chapter; I hope you'll enjoy it!

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8. Chapter

"Mom!" Tommy shouted desperately as he barged in through the back door, for once having no problem to wolf down despite his still very agitated state due to sheer exhaustion.

No one answered, the house was almost totally quiet, only the voices of some infomercial and Deans soft snoring could be heard, no wonder, a quick consult of the clock at the kitchen wall showed that it was already well past midnight.

The jock didn't bother to wake his brother but rushed up the stairs towards his room, hammering against his parent's bedroom door in passing.

As he laid Merton down on his bed his sharp ears picked up mumbling and swearing from the adjoining room, so he stepped out on the hall again to get his mom.

Sally Dawkins opened the bedroom door and the view that greeted her eyes awoke her faster than a caffeine infusion, she was instantly on the alert.

"Tommy! Good god, what happened to you, where are you injured? Hold on my dear, I'm gonna call an ambulance…"

"No!" Tommy interrupted her, belatedly realising how he was looking. "Don't worry mom, I'm fine, most of the blood isn't mine; it's my friend who needs help. "

Seeing her plain disbelief he quickly pulled of his shirt – or what was left of it – to reveal blood crusted nevertheless clearly undamaged skin underneath, silently grateful that his wolf powers had already - albeit only superficially - closed the wounds.

"But…" Sally was at a loss as she was dragged by her younger son over to his room. She had a thousand questions running through her, starting from 'where do you come from that late at night?' to 'why shouldn't I call an ambulance?' and most of all '_whose_ blood is it then?!'

However, her thoughts halted instantly at the sight of the injured youth lying on the bed, her mind switched into nurse-mode, fully concentrating on the patient and shoving everything else in the back of her mind.

"Get me the first aid kit, Tommy, and a bowl of warm water, with a washcloth."

Carefully she peeled the shirt of the delicately built young man, taking in his injuries, the bruised, scraped up wrists, the swelling on his face, the deep gashes on his abdomen that were so jagged that they almost passed for claw marks if not for their size, one squashing actually looked as if someone had thrown a stone at the poor kid!

Tommy returned with the requested items, asking worried. "How is he?"

"Well he's definitely looking worse for wear, but nothing too serious, though these cuts will probably leave scars behind." She started washing the wounds. "Do you know who did this?"

Seeing her son look away uncomfortably but remain silent Sally exclaimed "These injuries aren't the result of a normal students brawl, Tommy, whoever did this needs to be hold accountable!" She took a deep breath to calm down "You see his wrists? He was bound and tortured, that is a matter for the sheriff."

Tommy sighed, under normal circumstances he would totally agree with his mom, but alas, these weren't normal circumstances. "Mom…I can't explain it to you right now, but…please believe me when I say: the one who did this got already punished for his deed and won't do it ever again."

Sally gave her son a hard glare, clearly unsatisfied, and answered. "Very well, I let it rest for now, but that won't be the last word on this, you _will_ explain all this to your father and me, and soon. Got it?"

"Yeah…"

Any further conversation was stopped by a small groan from the bed as the Goth finally regained consciousness. Tommy immediately kneeled down by his head, "Merton? Come on, buddy, open your eyes for me…"

"Tommy? What…where…how did I wind up in your room?"

"I brought you here so my Mom could treat your injuries." He leaned down a bit and added whispering "I dealt with Ariel, for good."

The smaller sucked in a sharp breath as the implication sunk in, but smiled nonetheless. "That's good to know…you should tell Callisto as soon as possible, so she can stop worrying, too."

"Lori can send her a short mail, I need to call her anyway; she was worried sick after your kid sis ran into us, honestly, she looked at me as if she was already seeing me six feet under!"

Sally, who was just returning after having brought away the bowl with the soiled water, heard his last statement and blanched. What in the name of God had her son been up to this night?

Mechanically she disinfected and bandaged the Goth's wounds while keeping an ear to the ground as Tommy called Lori.

"Hey Lori….yeah, I'm fine, and so is Merton, well, mostly, my Mom is patching him up as we're speaking…no, its nothing serious…yeah, we did fight, I won, but it was a close call…I'll tell you tomorrow, promise…look, could you do me a favour and send a quick note to Cal that the danger is over? I'll have Stephen over tomorrow so she can see that he's ok via web-cam for herself, but I want to set her mind at rest…thank you Lori, I owe you one. Good night!"

He closed his cell and turned to his mother. "Listen Mom; is it ok if Merton stays here for a while? His folks are on holiday and I don't want to leave him on his own with his injuries."

Before she could answer, Merton tried to sit up, only to find that his arms gave way beneath him. He couldn't suppress a little pained scream. "Damn! My shoulders hurt like hell!"

"No wonder, you were tied up with your hands above your head so that basically your whole weight was riding on your shoulder joints."

Sally palmed the Goths shoulders carefully "Well, the joints are definitely swollen…though not dislocated, but seriously strained. You've got to rest them for a few days, and then they should be ok again… it's probably really for the best if you're staying with us for the time being, until you're well again."

She packed up the medicine stuff. "I'll go and grab you an icepack for your face, while Tommy can set up a sleeping-place on the floor."

The jock smiled gratefully at his mother and went to fetch his old bedroll if only to keep up the façade; of course he wasn't going to sleep on the floor but beside his mate in bed.

Just as he returned from the cellar, Bob Dawkins entered the house, yawning widely. "What a day…at least it's over now…oh hey Tommy, I hadn't thought you were still awake. I have good news: your team buddies are back again; apparently it was all just some sick revenge from another football team that had been defeated by the badgers last season…do you know if your Mom is still up, too?"

"Yeah, she's in the kitchen." Tommy took the icepack for Merton from his mom and went up to his room, knowing that his parents would probably stay up longer, discussing how to broadcast the good news and impart to the people that their town was back to normality again.

Once in his room again he instantly dropped the sleeping bag and rushed to embrace his mate, finally allowing himself to relax in Merton's arms.

"I was so scared, to see you hanging there, dead still….knowing he was stronger due to the absence of the moon…"

Merton gave him a loving kiss and stroked his back soothingly. "Tell me what happened."

And Tommy did tell him, everything from the moment that he and Lori had first heard Becky scream, his shock at smelling his mate's blood to how he had spied on his opponent from his cliff and finally how he had confronted Ariel.

Although he never once faltered in his gentle caress it shocked Merton to his core to hear _how_ close it had been. He had been very near to waking up as Ariel's personal sex-toy respectively meal-to-be and what was more, Tommy had almost died. But wait a minute…there was one detail he was puzzled as to why.

"How did you mange to transform into a wolf? Even born werewolves need the energy of at least a half moon to do it; you as a bitten one should be totally unable to change fully outside of a full moon!"

Tommy couldn't quite understand Merton's excitement and frankly he was too tired right now to care if his transformation should have been possible or not so he just shrugged. "It was the only way to defeat him and save you." Then he yawned "Look, could we talk about this tomorrow? I'm really tuckered out."

"Of course, no wonder after _that_ night."

Merton too was exhausted, so they both fell asleep soon; Tommy curled protectively around him, subconsciously seeking the reassurance that his mate was indeed safe.

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They slept in until late morning; luckily neither of Tommy's parents had come to check up on them to find them sleeping cuddled together.

Since Merton's clothing was either shredded or muddy the jock lend him some of his which had shrunk up due to a one-time attempt of Dean to do the laundry but still were at least two sizes to big for his small frame.

Tommy fought hard not to laugh and promised to fetch him some of his own clothing as soon as possible.

Breakfast was a restless affair, with Tommy's parents buzzing around already high on several cups of coffee and organising a press conference at the town hall for the afternoon, nevertheless Tommy ate like he'd had nothing in days, famished after the long exhausting night.

A few minutes after twelve came the sound of a small, timid knocking from the front door.

Bob Dawkins opened and looked at the unexpected visitor, a shy young man he was sure he had never seen before. "Yes, what can I do for you?"

Stephen swallowed nervously, he was sure that this was the right house for the scent trail ended here, but who was this man? "I was asked to come here, to meet…" He trailed off, not knowing if this human even knew that he was living beneath the same roof with a werewolf.

Luckily, his arrival hadn't remained unnoticed by said werewolf.

"Stephen! I've been wondering when you would come around." Tommy interrupted the awkward situation and smiled reassuringly at the tense youth. Seeing his fathers questioning glance he added, thinking quickly "Dad, this Stephen, the cousin of a good friend of mine, he asked me to show him around a bit because he thinks about maybe changing to our university after semester break."

This explanation did the trick; Bob relaxed and even offered the timid youth a smile. "Well then, have fun, I'm sure you'll like our small town, living is really peaceful here - unless you're scared of the recurring werewolf rumours." He laughed and closed the door behind the two, not noticing how strained his son's smile had become after his little joke.

Stephen looked at the other sympathetically and voiced silently "Your family doesn't know?"

"No… it is not exactly a topic that comes up during a normal dinner conversation…" Tommy gave a weak smile, fighting off the memory of his father leading a mob armed with torches, scatterguns and pitchforks. He took a deep breath "Shall we?"

They started walking towards the lair unhurriedly, soon engrossed in conversation.

Stephen noticed how much the taller enjoyed to simply have another werewolf to talk to; he couldn't even fathom how the other could live in this solitude given that werewolves were very social.

He was sure that he himself would go crazy living as a lone wolf among nothing but humans.

Maybe that's why he found himself telling Tommy that Luke had expressed an interest in the life of werewolves and was most likely thinking about to give being a werewolf a chance, to experience the animalistic instincts he had studied himself.

To Stephen's surprise, the resident alpha was far from pleased but concerned to hear this, apparently he had no clue that there was quite an easy way to prevent newly-bitten werewolves from becoming evil.

Because once he had explained this, a beaming smile dawned on Tommy's face.

"Then I could allow him to turn….and perhaps some of the others will want to try it, too…"

'Then I wouldn't be alone anymore…it would be so great to have at least one other to talk to' he mused 'maybe even here in Pleasantville, if one of my football buddies want to change – if they want to, that is' aloud he said "I guess we'll see when we all meet again at the pavilion; if someone wants to change I'll help him the best I can, but I won't deny the cure to those that don't – it's solely up to them."

Stephen nodded approvingly and followed him down the stairs to a basement entrance.

Tommy opened the door to the lair with his key; the dead silence along with a quick sniff confirmed that Merton's family was indeed gone on holiday as planned, without bothering if their son respectively brother was alright.

He shook his head, one would think that by now he was used to their uncaring attitude, yet their callous actions surprised him every time anew.

With one last sigh he went over to Merton's desk, switched on the pc and the soft sound of the booting machine filled the lair.

A few clicks, and the face of one very anxious werewolf princess appeared on the screen. "Tommy! What happened, late last night we've received a mail from an unknown pc saying that Ariel is defeated, is that true? And if so, how's Stephen?"

"Well, why don't you ask him yourself?" He grinned and motioned for the smaller to come over.

As she saw him Callisto´s whole face lit up. "Stevie!! You're alive!" Tears of joy were sparkling in her eyes. "So it is true then, the nightmare is really over?"

"Yeah…Ariel won't harm anyone ever again." The strange finality Tommy spoke with caused Cal to furrow her brows in questioning irritation.

"He had kidnapped Merton…hurt him..." he swallowed hard while she gasped horrified. "The things he threatened to do to him…I lost it, Cal. I killed him." The jock looked down, obviously ashamed, but she instantly set him straight.

"Don't you dare and blame yourself Tommy! Ariel was a killer, already sentenced to death anyway, and he sure knew what he was doing when he laid paws on your mate. He had it coming to him!" The sheer resoluteness she spoke with convinced him more than her words ever could and he smiled gratefully.

"Thanks Cal…look, could you two continue the talk on your own, because I don't want to leave my mate too long alone…"

"Of course Tommy, and give Merton my best wishes!"

While Steven started his tale with how him and Ariel had stumbled over Luke and Sam and had used them and their car to get to Pleasantville, Tommy quickly grabbed some fresh clothes for the Goth and fed Rasputin a mouse before biding his goodbye.

As soon as he had left though, the tenor of the conversation changed.

"How, Stephen? Last night was a new moon for goods sake! How did he alone manage to kill Ariel, a born alpha - on the night he was supposed to be at his weakest?!" Callisto asked astonished, almost disbelieving.

"Well, at first it looked like a normal fight, both were about the same strength, but then Ariel used a mean trick to distract him and everything seemed over…and then…Tommy transformed Cal, he turned into a wolf!"

Her jaws went slack, so Stephen hurried to qualify his statement. "Ok, it was barely a minute, but…one moment Ariel had him in a chokehold and it looked as if he was done, and the next he was looking at his mate and his eyes started glowing and bam! Ariel didn't even know what hit him, so fast had he his fangs in that bastards throat... and the funny thing is, I think Tommy isn't even aware that he basically broke every law regarding werewolf-transformation last night!"

The princess looked more than a bit wary at her cousin who sighed, slightly exasperated.

"I know, if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I probably wouldn't believe it either, but I _have_ seen it, Cal! And so have four totally unbiased human witnesses!"

"Ok, I believe you! It's just…."

"Yeah…you had told me that he's something special, but I ´d never imagined _how_ special…which is why I don't think that this strength should be wasted."

Stephen looked her straight in the eye as understanding dawned on her face. "I know that it's not for me to decide, all I'm asking you for is to think about if this couldn't be one of the cases our ancestors had in mind when they created that particular spell."

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When Merton said he wanted to wash away the blood and grime before putting on fresh clothes, Tommy insisted on helping him, supposedly because washing himself would put too much strain on his abused shoulder joints.

The Goth thought it was more the wolf's urge to care for his mate still running rampant due to the recent events, but had nothing against some 'grooming' of his beloved, besides, Tommy in mother-hen-mode was just downright adorable.

Though one question remained, "Are you sure that we're alone? I mean, it would be mightily embarrassing to explain why you're scrubbing my back…or other, more delicate body parts."

Tommy grinned, knowing fully well where his lover's thoughts were heading for.

"My Dad has a town council meeting and my Mom one with her editorial team to prepare for the press conference, both won't be back before supper, and Dean is occupied with a 'Friends'- Marathon. So we'll be completely undisturbed."

Once in the bathroom Merton started to undress while Tommy drew a bath, then the jock stripped too, though only to his boxers, supposedly to prevent getting his clothes wet in the process.

The Goth hid his grin and stepped into the tub. He moaned as he sank into a nice, hot bubble bath, and even more so as Tommy started to sponge him, tenderly rubbing the sweet smelling lather over him. He sighed and relaxed fully under the gentle treatment, enjoying his moment of getting pampered.

Soon though his relaxation turned into anticipation as hands and sponge travelled lower and lower.

Just as Merton's breathing became ragged the ministrations stopped and the bath was drained, but before he could complain he was silenced with a passionate kiss that left him spacey, and the next thing he knew was that he was sitting on the padded bench by the window, wrapped in a huge fluffy towel.

Tommy smiled and leaned over him, putting his hands on Merton's knees and gently nudging them apart so that he could lower himself between them.

Blue eyes went impossibly wide before closing in bliss as coherent speech and thought abandoned their owner.

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Sally Dawkins entered her house and rushed up the stairs, inwardly cursing her forgetfulness.

Today of all days, were she was in such a hurry anyway, she had to forget her notebook and all her important notes she needed to prepare for the press conference.

Grabbing her briefcase from the bedside table she was already out in the hallway again when she heard it; a low, muffled sound, somewhat between a groan and a whimper, coming from the bathroom.

Instincts of a trained nurse as well as of a worried mother kicking in she instantly associated those sounds with injuries and was about to wrench the door open as she suddenly remembered their pale houseguest.

What if it was him and those were merely sounds of discomfort caused by his injuries?

Maybe he had been taken a shower and was just disinfecting his gashes; it would be quite awkward for both of them if she barged in groundlessly.

On the other hand, if someone had slipped and needed help in there….another sound, this time almost a yell. She had got to do something! Finally making up her mind, Sally resorted to a compromise; she would check discreetly if help was needed, and if not, no one needed to know that she had been here.

Thus, she bent down and peeked through the keyhole.

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Tommy was so engrossed in his task that he forgot everything around, his senses solely focussing on his beloved.

Still on his knees in front of Merton he kissed his way all over his chest, following some instinctual urge he tenderly licked the blood crusted claw marks which marred the pale skin what earned him a pleased groan.

Since his eyes were closed, the Goth was caught of guard when an oil-slick finger entered him, just as the talented tongue of his werewolf reached his ultimate goal.

Tommy smirked at his lover's audible delight, knowing that his mom would _kill_ him if she knew what for he was just using her high-priced body oil.

A second finger, and the vocal encouragement of his mate turned into needy whimpers; only one more and it would be time to move this party back to his room, namely into his bed.

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Sally Dawkins had to lean against the wall for support, her hand clasped firmly over her mouth to prevent any sound from escaping. She was in complete and utter shock.

Her Tommy, her golden boy, down on his knees…with his head between the tights of another male…another sensuous moan from the bathroom made it painfully obvious what was going on, no matter how strenuously she denied it.

A grating noise alerted her that the bathroom door was being unlocked and Sally hurriedly hid in the stairway, nevertheless carefully peeping around the corner.

The door opened and Tommy stepped out, carrying the pale boy in his arms bridal style, both as naked as the day they were born.

She didn't have to worry about being detected for both clearly only had eyes for one another, though she had to fight the urge to gag as she realized where her son had his fingers – and why. She may have been raised after conservative principles, but she wasn't stupid.

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Tommy sat down on his bed, still holding Merton in his arms, who shifted until he straddled his lap. Kissing his mate slow and sensual, the jock lifted him up and positioned his member before carefully lowering him down again.

A gasp, followed by a heartfelt moan broke their kiss. They panted and looked each other deep into the eyes for a moment, and then Merton began to rock his hips, setting a leisurely pace that was bound to drive his beloved insane.

Soon enough Tommy wolfed out and took over control; grabbing the Goth's hips he increased the tempo as well as the power of his thrusts, but remained gentle nonetheless.

Merton clung to him for dear life, enjoying the connection with the one he loved and kissed him deeply. The werewolf returned the kiss for all he was worth, basking in his mate's taste and smell he was all but howling with delight.

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The increasing noise from her son's bedroom had chased Sally down the stairs and out of the house.

She couldn't comprehend it, all in her was rebelling against what she had she had just witnessed. Her son used to date hot cheerleaders for gods sake! Ok, so this Lori had been quite a tomboy, but still a bombshell and everything but gamine.

Maybe it was just a phase….boys tend to do some experimenting on college, right? Her own husband had an outrageous tattoo in a delicate place, a testament of his wild days, but was a respectable husband and father nowadays.

Yes, that's got to be it… 'Just a phase he is pulling through…he'll snap out of it….' she continued to persuade herself until she had calmed down.

Sally smiled, totally convinced of her logic. Before long Tommy would dump his pale roommate for a nice girl and settle down, though it won't do any harm to put him in the right way with an earnest conversation - and maybe a transfer to another university.

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Still panting, the boys snuggled up to each other as close as possible. Merton was already dozing off as Tommy pulled the blanket over them.

He looked at his beloved and thanked for the umpteenth time whatever deity had watched over them last night because to him, living without Merton was just unthinkable.

The werewolf nuzzled the cheek of his softly snoring mate and vowed then and there that no one was going to separate him from his chosen ever again – and that whoever would try to do so would bitterly regret it.


	9. Chapter 9

Disclaimer: You know the drill, nothing belongs to me!

Thanks to: My ever loyal reviewer 66Witch, a warm Welcome! to Jeremy and last but definitely not least thanks to Lady Mayhem for your support of my version of Sally's reaction. I always felt that the usually portrayed totally open-minded + positive reaction is just not realistic, given that just being a Goth is enough to make Merton the town-freak whose own sister denies to even know let alone being related to him.

Note: Took me long enough to come out with this chapter, huh? The reason: my computer has caught some virus, and keeps on shutting down right while I'm writing, of course _before_ I can save a thing, which is frustrating – to put it mildly!! Tomorrow it's going to the shop for a complete overhaul, and once I've got it back I can hopefully write without having to push the safe-button after each sentence…and date up faster!

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9. Chapter

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After their little sex-induced nap Tommy and Merton went down into the kitchen to prepare supper for everyone since Dean was still glued to the TV and Tommy's parents would be quite worn after their long day.

While setting the table and putting frozen pizza into the oven the werewolf told his mate about his talk with Stephen, namely how the bitten ones could transform without danger of them turning evil.

"It's actually quite simple; all they have to do is to submit willingly to me – or another alpha – on their first full moon in the time when they're already transformed but before it becomes irreversible, meaning between the rising of the moon and midnight." He explained in a low voice, so that Dean wouldn't hear what they were talking about.

"That's awesome! Right after supper I'm gonna look up the moon rising time for the next full moon, so that we know how big or small the time window will be….by the way, is this submission-thing temporary or permanently?"

"Permanently, once it's done they're betas for life; one of the positive effects is that they won't be able to change others."

"That is good, so we don't have to worry about them accidentally turning their dentist." The Goth chuckled, remembering how he had gotten bitten in said fashion.

Before Tommy could answer to that the front door opened and his parents came in. Both were definitely bushed, though Bob Dawkins mood lifted drastically as he smelled the food.

"Ah, Pizza! Thank you so much guys, I'm hungry enough right now I could eat a horse!"

"You're welcome Dad; they're done in about two minutes." Tommy smiled at his parents, completely missing the odd glance his Mom gave his friend.

Merton did notice though thought nothing of it, totally used to receiving stares of all kind, be it for his choice of clothing, his pale complexion or simply for being the town freak.

Supper went off uneventful, except for Sally Dawkins asking her son for the umpteenth time if he was dating a girl; and this time she wasn't satisfied with the jocks usual evasive answers but queried strangely persistent _when_ he planned on dating again.

Eventually she let the subject drop, only to request that Tommy would stay in the kitchen after dinner for a talk.

Tommy thought none of it; after all he still owed his parents an explanation for last night, he only hoped they would buy his story about the origin of Merton's injuries and his own tattered appearance.

However, before he could even start Sally said "You don't have to lie anymore; I know what's going on."

Tommy blinked, totally dumbfounded. There was no way she could know about Ariel, was there?

"You two got into a queer-bashing last night."

"What?!" He didn't know who looked more gobsmacked, him or his Dad.

"I saw you two! Today, in the bathroom! So stop lying for god's sake!" Anger was now clearly evident in her voice, and also something else that he couldn't identify right now.

Tommy just gaped at her, completely at a loss, until he caught a movement out of the corner of his eye in the hallway; apparently Merton had heard his shout and was concerned about what was going on.

The caring gesture calmed him and even brought a small smile to his face. He waved him nearer and at his side.

"It appears that my Mom saw us today, and now she's convinced that your injuries come from a queer-bashing…" Merton's jaw went slack "…which is of course a lot of nonsense - and you should know it!" Tommy exclaimed, turning towards his mother. "You've said yourself that his injuries aren't the result of a brawl but speak of capture and abuse!"

Effectively silencing his angry wife Bob said "How about we listen to Tommy's version before we pass our verdict on what happened last night?" Sally gave a tight nod, so he motioned at his son to start.

"It's a long story…"Tommy paused to collect his thoughts. Where should he begin? Maybe…

"Do you remember your little joke today, about the recurring werewolf-rumours in our town?" Bob nodded slowly "Those ambushed cheerleaders all gave the same description, someone furry with glowing eyes...and then the eerie howling a few days ago…where there's so much smoke, don't you think there is a fire, too?"

The mayor's eyes went wide "You mean the rumours are true?" He frowned "But I thought the legend has it that the Pleasantville werewolf is a good guy…"

Tommy nodded. "Roughly two weeks ago a foreign werewolf came to Pleasantville, _he_ caused all the trouble to provoke the resident one because he wanted a fight. To lastly force our werewolf into it he searched for someone special, the werewolf's mate.

That's why he tore the shirts of all the girls; he was searching for the mark that would give away the mate so he would have the perfect lure and lever….and last night, by sheer accident, he found what he was looking for." He looked over at Merton who gave him an encouraging smile, a silent assurance that he would always back him up, come what may.

Taking one last deep breath, Tommy sent a quick prayer that his parents really loved him as much as he hoped before gently tugging down Merton's collar. "You see this old, scarred bite wound? That is my mark."

For a few seconds, nothing happened; then the meaning of his statement hit home.

Bob inhaled sharply, his expression a mixture of disbelief and confusion, whereas Sally snorted angrily and was clearly about to blow a fuse over what she believed to be a bare-faced lie.

Her tantrum however was nipped in the bud when Tommy's eyes suddenly flared brightly yellow, leaving behind nothing but silence of disbelief.

It was his Dad who recovered first, after several minutes of deafening silence he cleared his throat and asked quietly "How long?"

"Almost three years now, I was bitten right before my senior year in High school started. Ever since I've tried to use my increased strength to protect Pleasantville – and you would be surprised how many shady creeps our little town attracts!

A lot of monsters that are supposed to exist solely in horror movies are real, and I'm the only one who can deal with them, or can you imagine our old Sheriff Parker going on a vampire hunt?"

He shook his head, chuckling at the mere picture. "I guess the saying is true; 'it runs in our blood to keep Pleasantville safe', I'm doing it this way." Tommy said, referring to the proverb that had formed over the generations because ever since Pleasantville has been founded a member of their family had been mayor, and often enough the Sheriff had been a Dawkins, too.

"Usually those monsters aren't that smart and it's enough to beat them up and kick them out of town." Tommy smiled briefly before he turned serious again "This foreign werewolf though was different; he was determined to kill me…"

Noticing his Dads alarmed look he hurried to add "Don't worry Dad, he's no threat anymore, and although I've got a good licking too this time my fractures are all more or less healed by now and the internal bleeding had already stopped last night. You'll see in a few days I'm as good as new again."

Bob Dawkins swallowed hard, lost for words given what he had just come to know he looked at his wife who had remained awfully quiet throughout the previous conversation.

Sally blinked rapidly several times in a row, as if she was just awaking from a dream, before exclaiming "That's all very well, but that doesn't explain why you and him" she indicated to Merton "were doing outrageous things in the bathroom today!"

Tommy stared at his mother in disbelief, and he wasn't the only one. Apparently the whole werewolf-issue had flown completely above her head; or maybe she was just ignoring it because she couldn't bear it?

Whatever it was, it didn't matter right now, what mattered was that he was now able to identify the undertone in his mother's angry voice: abhorrence; and it was directed towards Merton.

He could feel his wolf perking up immediately at the possible threat to its mate and fought to stay calm. Instinctively he reached out for Merton's hand, the small contact enough to reassure and ground him.

"We were kissing and touching each other because we're in love. I've meant to tell you for a long time, but I was scared of your reaction." Tommy stated as calmly as he could muster.

"And rightly so! Just what were you thinking Tommy, do you have any idea what would happen to our reputation if word got round of this? Your father's career would be over, mine too, not to mention the consequences for your own future! The stakes could hardly be higher, and all this because of a fleeting sex affair?"

Tommy's hands had clenched to fists on their own accord during Sally's little speech as he fought to keep his composure, her insulting words a kick in the teeth. "I am aware of the possible consequences; you however seem unable to comprehend how much Merton means to me. He's my mate!"

"Mate, buddy, whatever, just because you screwed him a few times doesn't make this …_thing_ you two have going on with each other anywhere near serious!"

Eyes flashing yellow Tommy had to grit his teeth to keep himself from snarling at her; luckily Merton sensed how enraged he was and took the talk over from him.

"I fear you misunderstand what Tommy tries to tell you; see, for a Werewolf the term 'mate' is equivalent to 'spouse'."

The Goth had hoped he could ease up the animosity a bit by providing an explanation that would clear up Sally's misassumption about the nature of their relationship, but in vain.

She burst out laughing in his face.

"Are you kidding me? You're nothing but a fling, an adventure, a cheap thrill! Tommy will snap out of this idiocy soon enough; I've already made a few calls to some old friends who owe me, by the start of the next semester he'll be on another university and then…out of sight, out of mind!" Sally sneered triumphantly at the Goth.

Tommy rose slowly from his seat, trembling with suppressed fury. His voice was calm, but dead serious.

"Merton J. Dingle is my mate, and nothing you'll do or say can ever change this. The sooner you get that into your pig head, the better. And about your nice little idea to blackmail me with my college money" He looked at his mother in disgust as she winced at the allusion; her whole face screaming 'busted!'

"You should consider that, given my performance on the football field, I would have no problem at all to be awarded an athletic scholarship." She gaped, obviously caught on the wrong foot.

"_You_ however would have a hard time explaining _why_ he's suddenly applying for one."

Four heads jerked around to the hallway, where Dean stepped out of the shadows. He walked into the kitchen, as cool as a cucumber, opened a cupboard, grabbed himself a Twinkie and started to eat.

It was Tommy who found his voice first. "I though you were watching 'Oprah'."

"You must be joking. My brother is a gay Werewolf – that beats Oprah anytime!" Dean grinned broadly.

He reached out the hand that wasn't holding the Twinkie towards Merton, only to haul the surprised Goth into a bear hug the instant he took it. "Welcome in the family, buddy."

Turning towards his brother he added "And don't worry about our parents, they'll calm down soon enough, I'm sure of it. They just need time to think things over."

"Thanks Dean, for everything." Tommy smiled, he was so touched that at least _one_ member of his family accepted him and Merton he had to fight back tears.

"Listen, I'm gonna spend the next days over at Merton's place, but you can call me anytime, ok?"

Dean nodded and, wishing them the best, showed them to the door.

Tommy managed to keep his composure during their walk, but once in the lair he couldn't hold back any longer and broke down crying.

Emotionally torn between his raging wolf and his bruised human heart he sobbed in the arms of his beloved for a long time.

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Tommy and Merton were walking to the park, the latter armed with an old jam jar full of wolfs bane, just in case. They were on their way to meet Stephen and the four potential werewolves-to-be.

Truth to be told, the jock was more than a bit nervous; those guys had seen him slaughtering Ariel, how should he make them understand that, under normal circumstances, he would never ever hurt someone?

And that two of them were his team buddies and friends since forever made things only worse, he didn't want to see them staring at him as if he was a monster.

However, all his own worries faded into the background as the pavilion came into view for it was obvious that the four were _way_ more nervous than him.

The two biology students Stephen had told him about were clutching onto each other like lost children and Rock's calm posture was belied by his hands, which were wavering no matter how hard he clenched them together.

Ferryman though was the worst; the poor sod looked like on the brink of a panic attack, he shivered uncontrollable and was biting his nails.

"Hey Ferris, how are you doing?" Tommy spoke with a calm, smooth voice but the addressed boy flinched as if slapped nonetheless.

"T-Tommy! What are you doing here?!" he exclaimed and all but started to hyperventilate, so Rock continued for him "Look dude, that's really bad timing right now, we are kind of waiting for …" he broke off mid-sentence as he spotted Merton beside Tommy and recognised him.

His eyes went impossibly wide as the pieces of the jigsaw fell into place. "You?!"

Tommy smiled "Yeah, me."

Giving his shocked team colleagues time to regain their poise he turned to the other two.

"Hey guys, I'm Tommy, this is Merton, and what are you names?"

Luke and Sam introduced themselves and slowly started to unbend in the light of Tommy's natural friendly demeanour. After everybody had calmed down again he proceeded with the actual matter.

"Ok folks, back on topic. I know that you've got tons of questions about all this, and I have promised to answer them all, so…what do you want to know first?"

"What about the cure?" Sam asked, quick like a shot.

After a short eye contact with Tommy Merton pulled out his jar and explained "This is wolfs bane, one dose before midnight on the first full moon after one is bitten and your transformation is stopped for good."

Tommy added "You see, you've got still plenty of time to make up your mind whether you want to take it or not, and I highly suggest that you think about it very well before you make your decision for its irreversible; once you take the cure you're immune for life.

On the other hand if you transform and regret it there's still a way to undo it for some time, though it's a bit more complicated."

"There's a way to reverse the transformation?" Stephen was thunderstruck, why hadn't he ever heard of this?

Tommy nodded. "We've discovered it just by accident, but yeah there is a way to reverse it, even months after one was bitten."

He looked at the four "I know how you feel right now, totally confused and worried, I was scared shitless too at the beginning and would have given everything to become 'normal' again.

But the more I've learned about my condition the less afraid I became, I accepted and finally came to like what I am. Today I wouldn't give up my inner wolf for all the tea in china."

"That's all fine and dandy, but I want some of this stuff!" Ferris had tears in his eyes as he looked at Tommy beseechingly. "I swear I won't tell a soul about your secret, but please…all I want is to wake up from this nightmare!"

Tommy looked at his friend who was now actually crying, sighed and unscrewed the jar.

"Here, you simply swallow this, and all is over. There are no known side effects, except that you'll be immune against lycanthropy for the rest of your life."

Ferris grabbed the small ball of dried wolfs bane and immediately gulped it down without bothering to chew it first before he bolted from the pavilion without saying goodbye.

Tommy's gaze followed him until the still terrified youth had left the park. "Goodbye Ferryman" he murmured with a sad expression, knowing he had lost Ferris as a friend today.

Looking back at the remaining three potential werewolves he explained "I admit that I would like you to transform, simply to have others like me around and to talk to; it's kind of depressing to be the only one of my kind far and wide.

Nevertheless, I'll tell you truthfully what you'll have to expect when you change, including all possible consequences. And in the end, the choice is solely up to you, I don't want to force no one."

The three nodded relieved, and Luke even gave a small smile. "How about you start with the differences between humans and werewolves in everyday life?"

Tommy returned his smile and continued with his werewolf 101 course, patiently answering all their questions:

Yes, werewolves did have a slightly increased appetite, but NOT for raw flesh.

Yes, they could get fleas.

No, they didn't have the urge to mark their territory by peeing on trees.

Albeit some questions were really ridiculous, he didn't laugh at them, remembering how desperate he had been for information, how he had tried to orient by stupid horror movie clichés.

"What happens if _we_ bite someone, will they become a werewolf too?"

Well, that was finally one good question. "Theoretically yes, but there is an easy way to make sure that you can't infect others, and be it by accident – which is easier as one would think. A clumsy dentist or a deep kiss with your girlfriend and the shit hits the fan.

That's why, if you choose to transform, I have to insist on that you submit to me during your first change. This way you'll become beta's, which means that your bite can't turn people, plus it prevents that one of you turns out rabid."

Tommy frowned "Somehow, lycanthropy tends to bring out the dark side of people, and I can't risk that one of you becomes the next Ariel and randomly bites innocent people."

"How do we submit to you, and what effects has it if we do so?" asked a yet again nervous looking Sam.

It was Stephen who answered him. "It's a simple, ritualistic gesture of submissiveness, showing your trust and loyalty to your alpha wolf. It weakens your wolf side, which in turn strengthens your human side.

But it gives the one you submit to some power over you, for example you can't transform fully into a wolf without permission.

On the other hand it makes the alpha responsible for you, he's bound to help and defend you if you're in trouble – though also allowed to punish you if you screw things up and endanger the pack."

He looked at the three still human young men. "Basically, it's a question of whether or not you trust Tommy not to abuse the power he would get over you."

For a long moment there was silence, then "I'll do it." Rock's voice was calm, but confident.

He looked at the other two "I know Tommy for years, as a friend and team captain; I saw how it was always a given for him to protect the little freshers against the bullies. Trust me, he'll rather bite of his tail than mistreat or hurt someone."

The last statement was followed by a smirk and a wink towards Tommy who in return smiled gratefully at him, relieved that he wouldn't loose another friend tonight.

Luke spoke up next. "I _really_ want to, however I'm not sure about moving to Pleasantville… to leave all my friends and family behind, plus it's probably the worst time for a change of university, I'm right in the middle of writing my dissertation…"

"Who said you've got to move here? I would never expect you to leave your family behind; my plan was more to teach you and Sam the basics now during semester break, and later on to keep in touch via e-mail to further assist you in getting accustomed to your new life.

Sure, it would be great if you come round in your holidays, and there are certain important werewolf-related things that can only be done here, like receiving a vision of your mate, but you can still continue living your own life."

Luke grinned "In that case, you can count me in buddy!"

Beside him, Sam shifted in his seat uncomfortably, it was clear that there was something on his mind that troubled him deeply but was hesitant to speak about. One encouraging nudge of Luke finally made him spill his guts.

"What about girls? See, I'm all but engaged to Luke's sister Mary and I truly love her…what if she'll think I'm a monster?" Sam bit his lips nervously and lowered his gaze, too embarrassed to meet anyone's eyes.

"Well, werewolves are usually very faithful once we've found our mate, and even before we're not into sleeping around, it's just not in our nature.

There are a few peculiarities we have to keep in mind in a relationship with a human, but its nothing really drastic or in the least dangerous.

However I have no idea how your girl would handle it if you turn into a werewolf. Guess you'll just have to ask her."

Tommy smiled at Sam's jaw-slackened expression. "What? It's the only way for you to find out, and since her brother has already decided to transform its pretty much out of question that she'll betray our secret - not that someone would believe her anyway."

His smile grew tender "And I know first-hand that nothing is as important as being with the one you love." Leaning over he gave a furiously blushing Merton a short but sweet kiss.

Thus Sam and Luke called Mary the very same evening, asking her to come as soon as possible to Pleasantville.

And although she was more than a bit surprised about their request she promised to hit the road the first thing tomorrow, trusting in her brother and long-time lover.

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"You know, everything considered, things went pretty well today." said Merton while he was stripping down.

"Yeah, I'm only a bit worried for Sam; I hope his girl will be sympathetic." answered Tommy, coming out of the lair's little bathroom.

"Don't worry, you've heard Luke, he said his sister is level-headed." reassured the Goth and turned out the lights before climbing under the covers.

"I really hope so…I wish him to become as perfectly happy as I am with you." admitted the taller, joining him in bed.

"Aw, now that was corny!" scoffed Merton, but thanks to his wolfish night vision Tommy could clearly see him smile.

"But true!" He pulled the small body of his mate in his arms and effectively prevented further talking by silencing him with a kiss. "Goodnight Merton."


	10. Chapter 10

Disclaimer: The usual…nothing you recognise from the show belongs to me.

Thanks to: 66Witch: I'm glad you like the scene with Dean, I had tons of fun writing his comments – the 'talk' with the parent though was a bitch to write.

Scottishwriter: Glad to have you back! I hope you'll like the rest, too…and thanks for pointing out the spell, I was already fearing that little side comment was overlooked by everyone – though I won't tell if it's going to be a good or a bad thing, you'll have to wait for the next chapter to find out!

Note: Again, sorry for the long wait! The repairs took forever, and my damn PC is still acting up…about a hundred bucks, and all those a#holes can tell me is to go and buy a new one – thereby it's only five years old!

10. Chapter

--

Dean called his brother the next morning to update him on the situation at home; apparently their parents had had one major shouting match the night before.

Whereas Sally was still fixated on Tommy being with a male – and intent on breaking him and Merton up – Bob was more concerned about his son getting severely injured on a regular basis while fighting off bad guys. Apart from this he believed that it was Tommy's decision alone whom he loved, which was beyond his wife's comprehension.

Although Tommy was sad that he was the cause of a strong dissent of his parents he was glad to hear that his father too accepted their love and hoped that, given some time, his mom would learn to live with his choice as well.

Right now though he had other worries; him and Merton were standing at the station in Muhlenburg and waiting for Mary.

After the train had arrived they figured out the right girl easy enough since she was the spitting image of Luke, no wonder with them being twins, but then things started to get a bit complicated.

Convincing her that her brother had sent two complete strangers to pick her up was already tricky, especially after she saw Merton's car; seems as if driving a hearse wasn't exactly a good way to inspire confidence.

But when they left the normal street for some bumpy dirt road that lead directly into the dense wood she started to panic, obviously convinced to have fallen into the hands of two psychopaths.

Luckily they reached the clearing where Luke and the others were waiting within a few minutes. Mary calmed down as soon as she spotted her brother and started even apologising, embarrassed about the fuss she had made.

"Hey, don't sweat it, ok? Just go to your brother and Sam, I know they've got something important they need to talk with you about." Tommy smiled his patented Dawkins-smile, but it vanished after the girl had left the car and walked over to where the two young men were waiting for her.

"I really hope she doesn't go crazy; Sam seems to genuinely love her, I know he would be devastated if he looses her because of this."

"You worry too much; of course it will be quite a shock for Mary at first, I mean it's not everyday you get to know that werewolves exist _and_ that your brother - and perhaps your lover too - is about to turn into one. But in the end she'll manage, you'll see." Merton said confidently, looking over to where the two friends were talking to her.

After Luke and Sam had explained everything to Mary she simply stared at them incredulously before saying "Did you honestly drag me all the way here just to pull my leg?"

Sam gaped at his almost-fiancé and Luke looked baffled too but then he had an idea and went over to fetch Tommy. After a short explanation he concluded "You see, Mary doesn't believe us and thinks we're making fun of her, so I've thought maybe you could, you know, go all furry on her?"

Tommy chuckled, but complied nonetheless and wolfed out. The poor girl paled instantly and would have collapsed down on the floor if not for Sam catching her.

"Sorry love, but now you see that we're not joking." She nodded numbly.

"As you can imagine we're both more than tempted to take this chance, I mean to have first-hand experience of animalistic instincts that's a dream come true for every biologist, better than gills for a fanatical diver. The reason we've called you is that Sammy here is afraid that you won't love him anymore if he…uh…starts shedding hair on the couch. Ow!" Luke rubbed his side where Sam's elbow had hit him.

"What this insensitive brick wants to say is that I don't want to make such a grave decision about my further life without you because you mean the world to me. And if you can't live with a werewolf then I won't become one, for I can't imagine living without you by my side."

Mary was choked up by Sam's sincere declaration, noticing the hidden fear in his eyes she hurried to pull him into her arms. Holding him tight she tried to collect her thoughts and focus on what was most important. "I'll always be with you, no matter what."

She took one deep breath and turned to the still wolfed out Tommy. "What repercussions would this werewolf-thing have for us as a couple? Would I have to become one too….and what about our future children?"

"No, you won't have to become a werewolf; actually Sam won't even be able to transform you, only I could do it. And since he's a bitten werewolf your children would be born as normal humans, unless you decide to become a werewolf too, then your kids would be born werewolves, and so would be all their children."

Mary looked clearly relieved, but Tommy wasn't finished yet. "Though there are a few things you've got to know about being with a werewolf."

He motioned for Stephen to continue, since he was more familiar with these things, him being a born werewolf. "Well, for starters, once you're mated there's no turning back, no possibility of divorce, and being unfaithful would have drastic consequences.

The instincts to protect our mates are very strong, but the same instincts would demand to punish a disloyal mate. So you've got to be really sure before you make this kind of commitment.

I don't know if you've already set a date for getting married, but all things considered I strongly suggest that you'll wait until after Sam had his Lycanamora-vision, just to be sure that you're truly meant for each other."

Mary blanched a little but nodded and asked about the vision and how exactly one became mated.

They explained to her, Luke, Sam and Rocky what a Lycanamora-vision was and how you became one. "If your mate is someone you're already dating you simply call out to them while you're in trance, however if not your animal side gives a description, sort of a riddle you have to solve.

Anyway, the vision shows you your soul mate, so if Sam's shows you then you can be sure that you two belong together forever and that his wolf accepts you too. And getting mated, well, that's simple: you mate with each other."

They didn't explained to them about mating marks on purpose, knowing that the marking would have to happen sheer instinctively and neither Stephen nor Tommy wanted to risk that those two had sex before November and that Sam, being as deeply in love as he was, would mark Mary even though his instincts didn't tell him so.

Getting mated to someone who's _not_ your true mate always ended in a catastrophe, at the latest when the true mate came along the animalistic side would demand to leave the wrong girl and claim the right one – which ultimately meant to kill the first one for you could have only one mate at a time.

Instead Tommy told them about his vision as example of their puzzle-like character.

"I know, in hindsight it's got to be hilarious, but we truly were too blind to see that my vision described Merton." Tommy chuckled along with the others. "I'm really glad that my animal side was patient enough to spell it out for me, or I would probably still be searching."

He noticed the shadow that fell over Stephen and stopped laughing. "Hey buddy, what's biting you, have I said something wrong?"

The addressed gave a faint smile "It's not your fault, its just….well, I _am_ still searching, and odds are that I'll never find my one. Since my vision matched no one in Lycantria it's got to be a human, but how should I find one person among six billions?"

He sighed deeply "If I were at least a normal werewolf I could hope to hitch up with someone who can't find their mate either or has lost theirs and is now willing to settle for seconds, but as a born beta I'm considered a wimp by the others, no one would steep so low as to take me."

Tommy's as well as Merton's heart went out to the despaired young man; they silently agreed to help him find his one on all accounts. "Hey, why don't you tell us your vision, maybe we can find a clue?"

Stephen reached under his shirt for a chased amulet capsule, unscrewed it and handed them the little piece of parchment that had been inside.

Convinced to be a hopeless case and unable to take the pity in their eyes any longer he kept his eyes downcast, so he totally missed their almost shocked reaction.

**Your bite won't turn her**

**She's a natural born fighter**

**Kissed a werewolf before**

**And always wanted more**

Together they gaped at the four line poem, until Tommy cleared his throat. "You know, I think it would be for the best if you go out a bit, have a drink, watch a movie; that will take your mind off things.

Sadly, Mert and I will be too busy to help Mary settle down at his place, but I know a good friend of us wanted to go to the movies this evening anyway and I'm sure she would be glad to have someone to accompany her. Do you like Jackie Chan?"

"Uh…yeah?" Stammered Stephen, a bit overwhelmed at the jocks sudden and radical change of topic, but figured he only meant well, and maybe a distraction would really do him well after all the excitement of the last weeks.

What was more; Jackie Chan was actually his favourite actor. So he accepted the bill that was thrust into his hand and, following Tommy's directions, set off to find a place called 'the factory'.

As soon as he was out of earshot, Tommy grabbed his cell and dialled Lori's number.

"Hey Lori, it's me….sorry, but we can't make it….I know, but Stephen is a big fan and would like to go…no, I'm not trying to hook you up with him, I simply don't want to have him running around in Pleasantville on his own given how little knowledge he's got of the human world, and since you've got the tickets anyway….just humour me, I'll explain it to you tomorrow, o.k? Bye!"

He exhaled heavily and turned towards Merton. "She was pretty miffed that we're cancelling on her tonight; let's hope she doesn't bite off Stephen's head on first sight. The poor sod has been through enough already and doesn't deserve to be on the receiving end of a notorious Lori-Baxter-tantrum."

Merton nodded "You think it will work?"

"I hope so, for both of them. Though, if we're right, they should at least take to each other."

"Yeah… you know, that could be another reason why she went so mad last November, maybe she knew subconsciously that she was destined to be mated to a werewolf - and simply went for the only one available."

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After a jog from about fifteen minutes Stephen entered the factory and, after one short look around, made a bee-line for the girl who matched Tommy's description: short blond hair, sitting in front of a cherry beverage.

OK, so he had absolutely no idea what a 'cherry beverage' was, but the girl he approached was blonde and her red drink radiated a strong smell of cherries.

Noticing her slightly sulky expression he swallowed nervously before asking "So you're a fan of Jackie Chan?" offered his most friendly smile, and hoped for the best.

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Mary sighed and turned around for the umpteenth time, trying to fall asleep, but in vain.

Her mind was reeling with all that she had come to know today. Starring at the 'Hannah Montana'- poster and the small red and white Pleasantville High pennant on the opposite wall she finally decided to surrender and get up again, she couldn't sleep anyway.

Mary left Becky's room, walked into the kitchen and grabbed herself a glass of milk. After a few minutes she started browsing through the cupboards of the foreign kitchen until she had found all the ingredients she needed.

It was a habit she had taken over from her mom, to cook or bake to calm down, plus right now she was in desperate need of some comfort food.

Silently, as not to rouse the other people in the house, she started mixing cookie dough, with cinnamon and lots of chocolate chips in it; like her mom used to make them whenever her or Luke had a scrapped knee, were lovesick or had trouble in school.

Tears welled up in Mary's eyes as she remembered the first time she had made them on her own.

One evening her parents had gone to a fancy restaurant to celebrate their silver wedding and stayed out late. Just as she and her brother had started to worry, a police car drove up.

A single look into the officers' troubled faces had told the siblings all they needed to know. That night too she had walked into the kitchen like on autopilot to bake cookies, with tears streaming down her face.

Mary sighed, put the cookies into the oven and sat down at the kitchen table. While waiting for the cookies to be done she tried to sort out her thoughts as well as her emotions.

She didn't doubt her feelings for Sam, even though they were yet to say the 'I do's' he clearly was the love of her life, and just some additional hair wasn't going to change this. The same applied for her brother; ever since their parent's dead it had been her and Luke against the rest of the world. Nothing and no one could ever separate them.

But now her brother and her love were about to change into something she couldn't comprehend, what if they would change on the inside too? What if they wouldn't be _her_ Luke and _her_ Sam anymore?

Mary didn't care about fur and fangs; she was scared to loose the two people who meant everything to her. Finally, her tears started to fall.

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Of course Tommy's wolfish hearing had noticed Mary the moment she left Becky's room and even more so when she started rummaging through every cupboard, no matter how much she tried to be quiet.

He hadn't been asleep yet anyway but was discussing the possibility of Lori being Stephens mate with Merton. When he smelled cinnamon he figured she was preparing herself a midnight snack, but when he scented her tears he got worried.

"What do you think; if they're really mates, will Lori go to Lycantria with him or will Stephen stay here with us?....Tommy?"

"She's crying, Mary, she's upstairs in the kitchen, I can smell her tears." explained the werewolf his sudden distraction. "I guess I better go up and look after her."

"No, let me do it. I think after all the werewolf-stuff she's heard today she might want a human to talk to, someone who knows how it is to share his life with a 'furry monster'." The Goth grinned at his beloved and gave him a kiss.

Mary startled violently as Merton entered the kitchen, but he pretended not to notice.

"Seems as if you can't sleep either, huh?" He smiled at her and sniffed. "Hey, what smells so good in here?"

"Uh…I'm baking some cookies; I hope you don't mind…"

"Not as long as you plan to share them." The Goth winked and sat down opposite of her. He took in her red rimmed eyes with dark circles underneath. "That was one really hard day for you today, hm? You look as if you could need someone to talk to."

Mary looked up at this, sure she had met this guy today for the first time, basically he was a stranger, but her gut feeling told her that she could trust him. Besides, who else could answer her questions?

"Your friend, Tommy, was he…different before he got bitten?"

"We weren't already friends back then; however I know that neither his parents nor his brother ever suspected a thing." He paused for a moment before answering her real question, because although she hadn't asked directly, Merton caught her drift.

"You don't have to worry about Luke and Sam becoming different persons Mary. Ok, they'll develop stronger instincts and a bigger appetite for meat, but they'll still be the same. I mean, just look at Sam, he was bitten three weeks ago, the infection is almost complete, yet his first concern is still you."

Mary sighed relieved, now that her biggest fear was out of the picture she could think of less serious matters.

"How long are you and Tommy together?"

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Meanwhile Lori and Stephen were having a great time; the blonde had thawed very quickly, especially after discovering that they had the same favourite movie – the snake in the shadow of the eagle – and generally preferred the classic Jackie Chan movies from the seventies.

Right now they were walking towards the park with a bin of fried chicken pieces and two huge milkshakes from the hungry bucket; since the popular snack bar was way too crowded at this hour for their liking Stephen had suggested that they ate there.

Lori was slurping her milkshake - cherry-flavoured of course, what else? – as a stray dog appeared out of nowhere. The mongrel sniffed inquisitively before he jumped at the blonde, apparently hoping that he could make her drop the tasty snack.

It was only thanks to her good reflexes that Lori managed to avoid falling down, but the mutt's claws ripped a leg of her trousers.

"Damn, those were my new jeans!" She cursed and tried to shoo the annoying animal away, but in vain, so she turned to her companion.

"Hey Stephen, can't you just growl or something to put him off? I mean, dogs usually are afraid of wolves, right?"

The addressed young man was shocked speechless for a moment, partly because she knew that he was a werewolf but mostly because of the naturalness with which she spoke of his otherness.

So far every human Stephen had met had at least been wary if not scared shitless, and yet this girl was obviously totally content to take a late night stroll through an all but deserted park with him although she was fully aware of what he was!

Absolutely amazed, he followed Lori's suggest and growled at the mutt, eyes flashing yellow for added effect. The pushy dog took to his heels instantly, with his tail between his legs.

Still a bit nervous he looked over at the blonde to gauge her reaction, but instead of frightened she seemed almost…excited?

What Stephen couldn't know was that his little stunt had awoken Lori's old weakness for werewolves and now her mind was racing.

Here was a friendly, good-looking werewolf with whom she had a lot in common and liked all but straight away, now if only she knew if he was mated!

For if there was one lesson Lori had learned for good it was never to try to hit on a werewolf that was already taken; no matter how cute this guy was she could really do without more claw marks on her throat, thank you.

Thus she settled for smiling while inconspicuously ogling his neck for a mating mark.

Given her unusual reaction Stephen couldn't resist to ask about how she had learned of werewolves which soon lead to Lori telling him about her short-lived period as a werewolf.

He was more than a bit astounded; especially because of the longing if not wistful way she spoke of an experience that most humans would deem a nightmare.

Lori however made no secret of the fact that she had liked being a werewolf, glad to finally have found someone who she could to talk to about this safely and who could understand her.

"On the one hand I'm sad that we didn't know about this submission-thingy back then for I would have loved to stay a werewolf, but on the other hand I've got to admit that I would have never submitted to anyone freely. I just can't help it, I'm very independent and libertarian – maybe that's why I'm so into martial arts movies."

Stephen smiled "I wouldn't be surprised if you liked a good combat yourself."

"You bet your ass! I'm a natural born fighter!"

She laughed, and Stephen laughed with her – until he realised what she had just said. His eyes went wide and he froze. 'Could it be…' he looked at the blonde girl beside him and barely dared to breath.

Of course Lori noticed the odd stare he was giving her. "Hey Stephen, what's wrong, do I have something in my teeth or what?"

He blinked as if he was waking from a reverie. Taking a deep breath, Stephen mustered up all his courage and asked "Lori, do you know what a Lycanamora-vision is?"

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For the second time that day Stephen unscrewed the chased amulet capsule in which he, like every other werewolf who had had his vision but hadn't yet found his mate, carried his vision.

As she read the description Lori was knocked for six, to put it mildly; if they hadn't been sitting on a bench she probably would have collapsed.

Yet despite her spinning head she had no doubt that it was her Stephen's vision was about.

Dazed she looked at the nervous young man sitting next to her.

Stephen was indeed nervous; with every second that Lori remained silent and stared at him unblinkingly he was getting antsier.

Just as he was about to say something the blonde blinked several times; obviously regaining her composure she said "Well, that came unexpected…however, before I can say something binding in this matter I need one final test."

Stephen nodded numbly, not exactly sure what she meant, did she want him to receive another vision this November?

Lost in his thoughts he was only dimly aware that she was steering him into the deep shadows under the nearest tree.

Once away from prying eyes Lori grabbed him by the collar and yanked him forwards into a fervent kiss.

Stephen was thunderstruck, but his inner wolf wasn't and reacted instantly. He wolfed out and pinned the girl against the trunk of the tree, deepening the kiss and growling content as she didn't struggled but tried her best to pull him even further into her arms.

Lori was in heaven, _finally _there was fur under her hands again and sharp fangs in the mouth she kissed. His growl sent shivers down her spine, reminding her again why every date since Tommy had turned out a flop, after her short walk on the feral side normal boys just didn't cut the mustard for her anymore.

The werewolf was elated at how responsive the blonde was; licking down her neck he all but went delirious, her smell and taste unknown yet strangely familiar - and thoroughly addictive.

His inner wolf was virtually purring with bliss, and even in his confused state he was aware that this girl really had to be his mate to cause that kind of reaction.

When they finally had to separate to catch their breath Lori couldn't keep the grin from her face. Heavily panting she declared "I think you've passed."

Stephen looked perplexed for a second, then he burst out laughing "Well, I'm glad to hear that, though I wouldn't mind a retest sometime."

Lori's eyes lit up mischievously "Oh, don't you worry about it; I'm very thorough, I always check…and double-check…my results…." She purred, punctuating her statement with little kisses all over his face.

He groaned as she went for his ears, carefully nibbling at the sensitive tip, the sensation shooting right down to his crotch. Oh, how much he wanted her! Which reminded him… "There's something I've got to warn you about."

"Yeah?" She murmured, not bothering to stop her ministrations.

He swallowed nervously. "As a born werewolf, all my children will be werewolves too."

That got her attention, though again not in the way Stephen had anticipated.

Instead of fear or sadness Lori merely looked at him funnily. "And that's supposed to freak me out because…? In case you haven't noticed so far: I'm totally into werewolves; and the idea that my kids will be cute little puppies scares me none – more the opposite."

She smiled at how utterly relieved he looked before turning serious herself.

"However, I think there's also something _I _should warn you about: I won't put up with any alpha-macho crap, if we gonna do this and get together then only on equal footing. There's only one wolf in this town who can tell me what to do, but that sure as hell isn't you."

Stephen grinned, not bothering to explain that as a born beta he would have ended being totally henpecked in a relationship with another wolf.

"Don't worry, equal footing works just fine for me …and I'm glad to hear that you accept Tommy as your superior. I'll have to ask him for permission to stay in Pleasantville anyway, since this is his territory, and if we're gonna mate he'll have a say in that matter too."

"You mean he could tell us not to…?"

"Theoretically, yes; as long as I stay in his territory I'm under Tommy's rule, and he could forbid me to take you as my mate. Though that is highly unlikely, given that he sent me to you as soon as he saw my vision, he must have realised right away it describes you."

"Hm…nevertheless, I'm in favour of going over to him and sort out that matter right now."

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"So…how is it, to…uh…" Mary blushed madly, unable to continue, but Merton understood her nonetheless.

He chuckled "Well, one shouldn't be allergic to animal hair and it's better to do your own laundry to avoid curious glances, but aside from that…simply _wow_."

She giggled along with him, until "Hold on – you mean he wolfs out _during_…?"

"Of course, everything that upsets the inner equilibrium causes a wolfing out – be it positive or negative. However you don't have to be afraid, I can assure you that I was never scratched or harmed in any way. Actually, I like to see how much I affect Tommy, plus his soft fur tickles so deliciously…" Merton's eyes glazed over dreamily for a moment, before he snapped back into reality.

Looking at the flustered girl he decided that now might be a good opportunity to broach the subject of the mating mark, because even if they had decided to leave Sam in the dark it was surely better to inform Mary, so she was warned and wouldn't panic when her wolfed out lover suddenly went for her neck.

As Merton explained the meaning of the mark and showed her his own, Mary's eyes became bigger and bigger. He concluded by saying "It didn't hurt, honestly."

Seeing her disbelieving look at his scar he added "I don't know why, maybe it's something in their saliva, or maybe an orgasm is the best anaesthetic in the world, but when it happened I was just happy for I know it meant that we would be together forever."

Merton blushed slightly at this intimate confession, but to him, the smile that replaced Mary's worried frown was more than worth his embarrassment.

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Despite the late hour Tommy was still wide awake, listening to the conversation upstairs in the kitchen. He was relieved when he heard the laughter; obviously Merton had managed to calm Mary down and alley her fears.

He yawned, hoping that his mate would come back to bed soon so that they finally could go to sleep, as he heard someone coming down the stairs to the basement entry.

Slightly worried as to who it could be, especially given the late hour, Tommy took an inquiring sniff. Two people, a werewolf and a human; cherry-flavoured milkshake, fried chicken and traces of the woods…'got to be Lori and Stephen' he inferred, wondering what the two wanted that couldn't wait until tomorrow.

With a sigh he went over to the door and opened just as Lori had raised her hand to knock.

"Hey folks, come in" greeted Tommy the blonde and a somewhat nervous Stephen.

"What brings you here in this hour?"

Much to the smaller werewolf's horror Lori stalked menacingly towards Tommy, scowling, and accused him "Didn't you tell me that you were NOT trying to hook us up?"

For a moment, Stephen already saw his possibly future mate on the receiving end of an insulted alpha's rage, but Tommy merely chuckled, totally used to her crazy antics, which was why he in contrast to Stephen saw the bantering spark in her eyes.

"I wasn't trying to hook you up, I was merely giving you the chance to meet and get to know each other uninfluenced, and it appears to me that things went quite well….by the way, is that a hickey?"

Lori, for once speechless, blushed crimson at Tommy's knowing grin. Stephen took the opportunity and approached him with the matter that had led them here.

"I want to officially ask you as the resident alpha for permission to stay in Pleasantville and court Lori Baxter."

Tommy blinked; slightly puzzled as to why the other would ask such a question but answered anyway. "Well, you're a good and loyal guy, as far as I'm concerned you can stay for as long as you please. And about Lori, that's completely between the two of you, but personally I'm wishing you both the best."

Stephen relaxed visibly and couldn't resist pulling Lori into a tight hug, spinning the squealing girl around.

The commotion drew Merton along with Mary down from the kitchen, the girl carrying a plate with fresh baked, deliciously smelling cookies.

Soon they all were munching comradely, Tommy telling Merton the happy news while Lori and Stephen were whispering to each other.

Mary watched fascinated how small touches or even just one heated glance from the blonde sufficed to make her lover's eyes glow yellow.

What was it that the Goth had said? _I like to see how much I affect him._ 'Maybe this werewolf thing isn't so bad after all' mused Mary and grabbed herself one more cookie.


	11. Chapter 11

Disclaimer: I still don't own a thing.

Thanks to all my lovely reviewers:

Scottishwriter: I just have to ask- is that really your picture in your profile? That hair colour is awesome!!

Solana1: Don't worry my dear, despite some angst in between, I usually write happy ends. I mean, there's already enough heartache in real life, right?

66Witch: What shall I say…your encouraging comments are always a great inspiration for me!

11. Chapter

About one week had passed; it was the night of the full moon. Soon the moon would rise and Rock, Sam and Luke would transform for the very first time.

Needless to say the three were beyond nervous despite Tommy and Stephen doing their best to calm them.

"And it really won't hurt?"

"No, it won't hurt; it will merely tickle a bit when your fur grows for the first time. Nothing to worry about." assured Tommy patiently for the umpteenth time.

He sighed inwardly, wishing Merton was here with him, but for good measures he and the other humans had to keep a safe distance until the three had submitted and were safe to be around.

After all, there was still a residual risk that one of them would snap, and it was better to be safe than sorry.

Merton and Lori were equally busy at the moment to calm a frantic Mary and make sure she stayed away, the girl being even more nervous than her brother and her lover combined.

The blonde sighed, she too didn't like to be excluded, but unlike Mary she had learned in the past that there were some werewolf-related things that humans shouldn't interfere with unless one wanted to get hurt.

With a smile she thought back to the past week, her and Stephen had been all but inseparable. They've talked extensively, about their likes and dislikes, also about their respective plans for the future, to see if they would go together.

So far they only had discovered more and more things they had in common and no controversial subjects at all, given their tempo the odds were good that they would be mated even sooner than Sam and Mary. And that although until recently Lori could have never imagined committing herself that young, now she could hardly await it.

One week, and already she couldn't imagine her world without Stephen. Funny how someone she knew that shortly could turn her life upside down so quickly.

Up on his cliff Tommy's thoughts turned towards the born werewolf as well. In the short time that he knew him Stephen had already proven to be a good and loyal companion.

What was more, with his knowledge about werewolves and his calm and friendly attitude he would make an excellent second in command for the nascent pack, and the alpha hoped to keep him by his side for good.

Merton was already working on creating an ID and forging a social security number for their new friend, so with the beginning of the next semester he could continue his studies here in Pleasantville.

And thanks to yet more hacking (Merton) and some flirting with the secretary of the campus administration (Tommy) Stephen would share a room with Rock which was situated right next to theirs.

The black football player was more than happy about this for now he didn't have to worry about explaining accidentally wolfing out to a stranger, besides he needed a new roommate anyway since Ferryman had made it more than clear that he wanted to have nothing to do with his former best friend anymore now that he was a werewolf.

And the Lycantria native was glad that he didn't have to worry about someone noticing the vast gaps in his knowledge of the human world, or peculiarities in his life story like why he had no driving license.

The rising of the moon put an end to Tommy's musings; he as well as the others could feel the change instantly, suddenly there was so much energy in the air it seemed all but palpable.

Though where he and Stephen welcomed the feeling the others were scared by this alien sensation and all but shaking with fear.

"Don't be afraid, everything is perfectly normal" soothed a wolfed out Tommy the three. "Look at your hands, your claws are already growing, as is your fur."

"It really doesn't hurt!" exclaimed Sam amazed.

"But it sure looks funny – we're fuzzy all over!" laughed Luke.

Rock was speechless, feeling a mop of straight hair on his head instead of the usual close-cropped frizzy quarter inch.

While they were still laughing and gaping at each others appearances Tommy started to undress.

"Hey, how come we don't have a tail like you two….and why are you half naked?!"

"As bitten ones you won't grow a tail until you transform fully into a wolf for the first time. And I'm taking off my clothes because I need to take on my true wolf form for you to submit properly to me – and unlike in movies clothes don't transform with you."

"What exactly do we have to do anyway?"

It was Stephen who answered their question. "Easy, just like with real wolves or dogs you simply lie down on your back and bare your belly and throat to your alpha. He closes his jaws around your neck for a second in such a way that his eye teeth barely break the skin. That way it gets driven home to your inner wolf for good that he's your leader."

At this explanation all three newly-transformed werewolves tensed up; as much as they trusted Tommy, the picture of him in his wolf form ripping out Ariel's throat was still very fresh in their minds, and now they were supposed to bring themselves into such a vulnerable position!

Unbeknownst to them their reluctance was fuelled not only by fear but also by their already arising inner wolves who didn't want to submit at all.

Stephen and Tommy realised this and knew they had to act fast or they would loose them.

"We've got to hurry, it's only fifteen minutes until midnight" whispered Stephen to Tommy.

"How about we show them how it's supposed to work, that way they see that there's nothing to fear…I mean, if it won't harm you, since you're already a beta, right?"

"No, it would harm me none, but…" Stephen swallowed nervously. "You see, right now I'm kind of everyone's beta but a personal claim like a submission mark would change this irrevocably. You would be stuck with me forever."

Tommy chuckled "The way you put it you make it sound as if this were a downside. I mean, you're a great guy, loyal and trustworthy. I liked you from the moment I first saw you, when you spoke up for my mate."

The alpha smiled at the others surprise. "I was up here on this cliff that night, watching, and preparing myself for the fight. And I was truly impressed when you talked back against Ariel although you knew you were chanceless, but risking to get killed yourself. It really takes a lot of courage to do such a thing."

Stephen gaped at the taller in wonder, ok so it wasn't the first time that someone had praised him for doing something but for the first time it sounded genuine; Tommy truly appreciated him and _wanted_ to have him in his pack.

Stephen smiled; it was a nice feeling, being wanted for a change instead of merely being tolerated.

"O.k, then let's do this."

Turning to the others, Tommy announced "To show you how it's supposed to work and that there's really nothing to be afraid of, Stephen and I will give you a demonstration."

Then, he quickly dropped his boxers, kneeled down and within seconds turned into his wolf form.

The three gasped at the sight of the gigantic beast and whimpered in fear.

Stephen however simply lay down, barred his throat to the huge animal and didn't even try to struggle as it closed his mighty jaws around his neck.

Sharp teeth tightened for a second and the onlookers held their breath, for a moment convinced that the small beta would end just like Ariel, but then the wolf raised his head, revealing a nearly unharmed throat.

Six pairs of eyes watched amazed how the feral-looking creature gently liked four tiny drops of blood off Stephen's skin before standing back from the lying young man.

"See, it's totally harmless! So who's next?" Stephen said lightly, almost jokingly, despite the gravity of the situation, to ease the others. The wolf sat back on his haunches and softly wagged with his tail, trying his best to look non-threatening.

Rock stared incredulously at the animal. "Tommy? Is that really you under all the fur?"

A little bark and increased wagging answered his question.

He swallowed nervously but stepped forward determinedly and lay down in front of the wolf. Shutting his eyes tightly Rock tried to prepare for the pain he was sure to come.

He heard the wolf approaching and felt his warm breath on his throat, then a wet sensation across his neck, followed by a slightly raspy tongue. Rock was getting confused 'Is he licking my throat clean before he bites me or what?'

A friendly nudge of a muzzle finally made him open his eyes again.

He looked up into golden amber eyes of the wolf that was only inches above him, but strangely he felt no fear anymore.

No, what he felt was a deep-rooted connection, a sense of _belonging_.

"See, that wasn't so bad now, was it?"

Rock looked over to Stephen and immediately felt the same connection. "Actually, I didn't even felt it…no pain, I mean."

"Well, what did you expect; he barely pierced your skin! Besides, our saliva has really strong healing abilities if we want it; hence those little wounds are already completely healed."

Rock stood up to make room for a still nervous-looking Sam and was surprised that he didn't felt connected to him too, or to Luke for that matter. Sure he could somehow sense them, recognise them as fellow werewolves, but…different. 'Kind but not kin' as his grandma would have put it.

That changed the moment the wolf's fangs closed around Sam's throat, he could feel the shift in his perception, Sam as well was now …friend, companion, brother….pack. The feral, primitive term was oddly fitting.

Rock took a deep breath, trying to figure out what else had changed, _for_ him as well as _inside_ him.

He became aware that he could think far more logical now than right after his transformation, also the mad urge to run into the woods and follow the scent trail of the deer that had drunken from the lake earlier that evening had dwindled considerably.

Ok, he was still hungry, but more after something from the hungry bucket then something four-legged out of the wood.

In hindsight it was both frightening to realize how inhuman he had become, if only for a few minutes, and what an enormous effect this submission ritual had on him.

The tall black shivered at the thought of what would have become of him if not for Tommy, or even worse with a lunatic like Ariel as his alpha.

By now Luke had submitted too and was wearing the same surprised and jubilant grin as Sam and Rock before.

Stephen grinned at them. "Ok, now that you're all save I would say its time to go to the others, before Mary goes into hysterics from worrying so much." Luke and Sam chuckled at that while Stephen looked over to his alpha questioningly.

"Go ahead, I'll be following you as soon as I'm decent again" said a humanoid again Tommy who was hurrying into his clothes for the night was getting chilly.

Within minutes he was dressed again, though before he followed the others he felt that there was one thing left he had got to do.

Standing tall and proud up on his cliff he howled at the moon, triumphantly reclaiming his territory for all the world to hear.

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Mary was pacing back and forth, slowly but surely getting into a tizzy, when finally the sound of snapping twigs alerted her to the return of the others.

She was just about to hasten to meet her beloved ones as the little group stepped into the clearing and hence into view. What she saw made her stop short; all four were sporting fur and had glowing eyes.

Yet she could easily recognise them, Luke's fur was the same dark brown as his hair and his before brown eyes held now a yellow tinge, turning them to rich caramel.

Sam's reddish-brown locks were now a flowing auburn mane, and his eyes…Mary gasped.

She had always loved his bright emerald eyes, but now they seemed to all but blaze, as if a golden fire was burning in their depths.

Without realising what she was doing she stepped nearer, drawn to him like a moth to a flame. The next thing she knew she was in his arms, kissing him and running her fingers through his silken strands, not caring the least about fur, fangs or claws.

When they broke apart panting heavily she realized that Merton had been right, no matter how he looked right now this was still her Sam.

Lori smiled inwardly at Mary's reaction upon seeing her friend as a werewolf for the first time, seemed as if someone else beside her was developing a soft spot for werewolves. Not that she could blame her; Sam did look gorgeous with those green, slightly golden-tinged eyes.

Nevertheless, to Lori, nothing was more beautiful than the sandy-brown furred werewolf whose honey-coloured eyes looked at her with so much love and adoration that it took her breath away.

Merton smiled at the four lovebirds whilst studying the features of the fledgling werewolves, marvelling the most at Rock's colouring. While his fur was unsurprisingly still dark, though more anthracite than black, his before dark brown eyes were now a sheer yellow, creating a stark contrast to his dark skin.

Then a howl rang out through the night as Tommy proclaimed his sovereignty over his territory.

Stephen didn't hesitate, threw his head back and happily answered the howl, whereas the recently transformed looked at each other uncertainly, but in the end they too followed the urge to respond to their alpha, though their howls were still a bit shaky and unsure.

For Tommy up on his cliff it was an indescribably feeling to _finally_ have someone answering his call, turning his lone cry into a true moon song. He could feel his inner wolf perk up at the joint howls, a warm, contend sensation spreading through him as his innermost craving to have a pack was satisfied at last.

Unbeknownst to Tommy, howling together not only deepened the bond to his beta's further but also triggered before dormant alpha-instincts to awake, urging him to protect and care for his pack.

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Tommy and Merton stumbled inside the lair, kissing each other passionately while trying to get out of their clothes as fast as possible without actually ripping something.

Roughly twenty minutes ago the moon had gone down, turning Luke and the others into humans again which meant that Tommy could finally leave them alone for the night.

Watching Lori and Stephen as well as Mary and Sam being all over each other the werewolf was desperate to be alone with his mate.

Thankfully Mary had decided to stay with her Sam tonight, so no one would disturb the two lovers who were both more than eager to use the opportunity to spend some quality time together.

In next to no time Merton found himself pinned naked against the wall, helplessly whimpering under the onslaught of Tommy's skilled hands wandering all over him. Golden eyes flashed in the dimness before him, a voice growled "Mine!" sending shivers down the Goth's spine as his legs were spread and lifted.

Merton didn't resist but wrapped his legs around the werewolf's waist, not surprises at all that tonight's events brought out his lover's dominant side. Soon, moans and growls were echoing through the lair.

On the other side of the room a little light at Merton's pc was blinking, signalling the arrival of a message. It was a mail from Lycantria, tagged as important.

The subject line read: Coming tomorrow.


	12. Chapter 12

Disclaimer: Feeling to lazy right now – just look at one of the previous chapters, o.k?

Thanks to: darkknight25276 and ShadowWolfDagger for their lovely reviews.

Note: Although this is the last chapter, this story isn't over – see note at the end!

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12. Chapter

Merton awoke to the delightful sensation of butterfly kisses raining all across his face, trailing from his still closed eyelids to his cheeks and further down to his throat where the kisses turned into gentle nips.

"Hm…morning Tommy" murmured a sleepy, yet genuinely smiling Goth.

"Morning my love, did you sleep well?"

"Uh-hu, but now I could need a cup of coffee and some breakfast..." A low grumbling from Tommy's middle interrupted him. "I take it that you're a little hungry, too?" chuckled Merton at his slightly blushing lover.

"Um…how about you make coffee while I go and fetch us something to eat?"

"Deal."

A few minutes later Tommy sped of to grab some bagels and Merton went to make coffee, but just as he was about to go upstairs he noticed the blinking light on his pc.

He frowned a little and decided to check his mails as soon as he got the coffee machine going.

The second he saw that it was a message from Lycantria his pulse skyrocket, but he calmed himself very quickly after he read the actual message and even managed to laugh a little at himself '_as if Lycantria would have a second mad wolf running around hell-bent to kill Tommy_'.

They were probably just coming for Stephen since Callisto had no clue so far that her Cousin had found his mate and wanted to stay in Pleasantville.

O.k. their visit was a bit short notice, and he wondered who the third person was her and her mate were bringing along, but… '_I can put Callisto and Jamie in my parents bedroom'_ he mused_,' and if Mary stays with Sam for a little while longer I have room for our mystery guest, too'. _

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After Breakfast Tommy and Merton drove to the camp in the woods to meet with Stephen and the others, informing him that his cousin was going to visit them.

As expected, Mary was fine staying with Sam and her brother for a couple of days, and the two biology students were excited at the prospect to get to know three more werewolves.

Tommy however noticed that Stephen looked less than thrilled, though not at all surprised, as he heard that a third person was coming along.

"I take it that you know who that third someone is."

"It's just a guess…" At Tommy's questioning glance he continued. "His name is Nepomuk, and he's sort of a ceremonial priest, the keeper of our ancient knowledge, like the exact recipe of the mixture of the Lycanamora herbs or the spells that keep our island hidden from humans. And he's quite…conservative."

Tommy nodded "I see…how bad is he?"

"Let's just say he would have been tickled pink if Callisto had mated Ariel."

"So I guess he's not exactly a fan of bitten werewolves or born betas?"

"No, not really, if he'd had his way I probably would have been drowned at birth."

Stephen said it off-handedly, almost jokingly, but Tommy had learned long ago to see through this sort of flippancy and recognise it as a protection mechanism.

He easily detected the hidden pain in his eyes, born from years of name-calling and insults; it was the same look Merton still got from time to time after a particularly nasty clash with Becky or his parents.

Tommy had to fight back a growl; he wouldn't stand for that kind of behaviour in his domain. '_That Nepomuk guy better behave himself or else.' _

He was too occupied being enraged at the yet unknown werewolf for causing Stephen distress with his stupid antiquated morals to ask why Callisto would bring a ceremonial priest with her.

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A few hours later Tommy and Merton were yet again waiting at the station in Muhlenburg, only this time Stephen was with them, eager to great his beloved cousin.

They had informed Lori and Rock, both were already waiting at the camp. The blonde was unusually nervous at the prospect of meeting the princess, no wonder, since she was pretty much all the family an orphaned Stephen had left it was almost like meeting the in-laws.

The train arrived just as the sun was setting, their three awaited guests were the only ones who exited.

Callisto was beaming and pulled first Stephen, then Tommy and Merton into a bone crushing hug. Her mate Jamie was far shyer but smiled warmly at them as well.

The third person though didn't greet them at all but did his best to ignore Stephen as well as Tommy and Merton.

The elderly man made such a sour face that Tommy instantly dubbed him 'Grumpy' in his mind.

They agreed to drive directly to the camp site; apparently their visitors were eager to get to know the newbies as well.

However during their short trip Callisto noticed something that troubled her. "Stevie, how come you're not wearing your capsule anymore, have you lost it?"

She was truly worried; if he had taken off the capsule which contained his vision on his own accord it could mean that he had lost the hope to ever find his mate – which was a very alarming sign for a werewolf.

But Stephen smiled and even blushed a little before answering. "No, I've found someone to wear it for me."

Her eyes went wide; no wonder, this meant her cousin was basically engaged!

"Who is it, one of the newly bitten ones?"

Stephen blushed even harder and shook his head, while Tommy chuckled.

"Do you remember the energetic blonde who played decoy bird with me? The moment I read Stephen's vision I knew it was her who was meant. Can't say I'm envying you though, she's quite a handful."

"Well, I can't argue with that, but I like her just the way she is!"

Callisto smiled as she listened to their banter, ok so the girl wasn't a werewolf, but as long as Stephen was happy she was happy too, plus as an old friend of Tommy she already knew about werewolves and wouldn't freak at the first sight of fur.

There was a large bonfire awaiting them at the camp, along with some delicious smelling bins from the hungry bucket, reminding the three travellers that their last meal had been breakfast in Lycantria.

After the greeting they all sat down around the fire and ate hungrily, afterwards they roasted marshmallows, chatting, laughing, and getting to know each other.

Jamie came to the conclusion that none of the newbies posed a threat and opened up more while Callisto decided that her cousin had made a good catch. The girl was obviously head over heels for him and had absolutely no fear of contact with werewolves.

What was more, she noticed that for a human female Lori was quite aggressive and protective of her mate-to-be, if she hadn't known better Callisto would have taken her for a fellow werewolf. Yes, this girl would be good for Stephen.

Seeing Callisto laughing with Lori and Mary over some joke while was Rock explaining the ground rules of foot ball to a fascinated Jamie, Tommy was glad that everyone was getting along so well.

Well, everyone except Nepomuk that is. The elderly werewolf had so far resisted all attempts to include him into the conversation and was currently sitting aside and all but radiating bad mood.

Finally he turned towards Callisto and snapped "My princes, must I remind you that the purpose of this journey is _not_ useless prattle?"

Silence fell across the clearing. Callisto narrowed her eyes, nearly growling at him, before taking a deep breath to calm herself. "Very well, then let's get down to business."

Much to everyone's surprise, she turned to Tommy and stated "We have to inspect the exact circumstances of Ariel's death. Don't get me wrong, we're all glad that he's gone, and Stephen gave me a detailed report, but… we have to confirm it." She ended, sounding almost apologetic which confused Tommy - until Stephen spoke up, smiling bitterly.

"You didn't believe me."

Callisto opened her mouth to deny it but he interrupted her.

"It's ok, I understand…"

He sighed before explaining to the baffled onlookers "You know that as a born beta I'm bound to follow every command an alpha gives me, no matter how much I disagree with it…hence my statement is untrustworthy because theoretically Tommy could have given me orders what to tell Callisto."

"Exactly!! A bitten one defeating the strongest wolf that was born in Lycantria in years, in a fair fight, and on new moon to booth! No one can expect us to believe such an incredible story solely upon the word of a _beta_." Nepomuk all but sneered, stressing the last word in a clearly insulting way.

Tommy bristled at this but tried to remain calm, though his patience with the older werewolf was wearing thin, rapidly. "You also have my word, and if that's not enough either you can ask the three over there, they saw everything."

"Great! Yet more bitten ones – as if those were better than this _beta_…"

"He's got a name you know!" Interrupted Tommy, fed up with how that bastard was insulting a member of his pack.

Enraged, Nepomuk leaped to his feet "Why, you think you can lecture me you bitten..."

"_Alpha;_ and you're here in my territory, so I think it's high time you start acting accordingly and show some respect!" growled Tommy angrily while slowly rising to his feet as well, for once emphasising his superior rank.

His eyes were flashing yellow, his hands had automatically balled to fists; and suddenly Nepomuk realised that this werewolf before him was less than half his age and at least one head taller than him.

Bitten one or not, he wouldn't stand a snowballs chance in hell against him.

The newly formed pack gathered behind Tommy, instinctively backing him up and pulling the humans in their midst to shield them.

Jamie fidgeted nervously, unsure if he should bestead Nepomuk, who surely was an asshole, nevertheless still a pack mate, but Callisto laid a hand onto his arm and shook her head.

She knew Tommy well enough to know that he wouldn't hurt let alone kill the arrogant prick but was merely teaching him a lesson that was, in her opinion, more than overdue.

To be honest, she could hardly keep the grin from her face as the swellhead swallowed hart, lowered his eyes and forced out an apology through clenched teeth.

Tommy relaxed, and everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

Stephen cleared his throat. "How about we show them the place of the fight? I mean, although we disposed of the corpse there are still traces left, maybe even some lingering scents since it hasn't rained since then…"

"Good idea." Agreed Tommy and lead the way, but making sure that Merton stayed by his side and as far away from Nepomuk as possible for he still didn't trust the older one bit.

Once there, the visitors were shocked at what they were seeing and smelling.

The scent of blood, from Tommy as well as from Ariel was still very present, a sure sign that both had lost plenty of it.

Deep claw marks crisscrossed the ground and strands of ripped out fur had snagged in the twigs of the surrounding trees and bushes.

Underneath one of the larger trees still lay the rope that had been used to tie up Merton, which was partially crusted with blood as well.

All in all, there was no doubt that a vicious fight had taken place in this clearing.

Callisto struggled visibly to maintain her composure, her eyes glued to the blood crusted rope, before turning to Tommy again. "Would you please give us permission to question your three betas?"

Tommy blinked, surprised at her formal phrasing and shrugged. "They're grown up guys; they don't need my 'permission' to talk to someone."

At her request, Luke, Sam and Rock started telling what they had witnessed that night, all three clearly still agitated by what had happened.

Needless to say, their story matched Stephens in every detail.

Nepomuk remained surprisingly quiet during all this, looking like someone whose world picture had turned upside down.

Lori and especially Mary, who were both hearing the full story for the first time, were horrified to say the least and clinging to their beloved ones.

In the end, everyone was glad to leave this sad place behind and return to the camp.

Sitting once more around the fire, Callisto cleared her throat "Well, I guess that settles the matter once and for all, Tommy has proven himself worthy and deserves to receive the scroll."

Nepomuk cringed, but didn't dare to object. He swallowed hard. "As you wish my princess, but I would like to point out that we might want to take a look at his wolf form first, to make sure it's big enough for the spell to work safely."

"Scroll? Spell? What the heck are you two talking about?" exclaimed a confused Tommy.

It was Stephen who answered him. "Lycantria´s most valuable possession is a collection of scrolls from our ancestors which contain age-old knowledge, including some powerful spells. One of them was made especially for cases like you and Merton."

"What do you mean, 'cases like us'?" asked the Goth, puzzled, though also thrilled at the possibility of getting to know more about ancient werewolf magic.

"He means cases in which two people of the same gender are mated." explained Callisto.

"You see, our ancestors hated to see strong werewolves remain childless instead of having offspring to carry their strength into the next generation just because their mate was of the same gender.

So they created a spell to fix this problem, but put a restrictive condition on it: only werewolves who have surpassing strength or skill, or have done something extraordinary for the benefit of Lycantria are supposed to profit from it. Tommy clearly matches both criteria."

Merton gaped wide-eyed, and his love was still completely bedlam so the princess clarified "The spell will allow you and Merton to have a child."

At this, Tommy's eyes went wide, his head was spinning; it was just too much for him to take in right now. A hand on his shoulder made him look up into the smiling face of his beloved.

"Don't worry Tommy, no one says we have to use this spell here and now, it's merely a possibility. One we might use, one day, after finishing college, and after thoroughly thinking it through, ok?"

Tommy returned his smile, amazed yet again how naturally Merton dealt with even the strangest situations and always managed to calm him down to boot. God, how much he loved this guy!

"Ok…but then I would say you check my size now, so that we know where we're off before Merton and I start looking forward to something that might not even be possible."

Callisto nodded and Tommy stand up, walking towards the tent, which confused her.

"Where are you going?"

"Behind the tent; for I'm so not going to drop my pants in front of everyone…why, did you think I would give you a show or what?" He teased her, not understanding why she looked so perplexed.

In a jiffy he was undressed and transformed. The humans gasped at the huge wolf came out from behind the tent and calmly padded over to where Tommy had been sitting before.

The animal nuzzled Merton lovingly, who, much to the amazement of all onlookers, didn't flinch but embraced the feral creature happily.

Though were especially Mary was more horrified, the Lycantria-natives were pleasantly surprised to see that a human could accept the wolf form of his mate wholeheartedly.

After the tender moment was over, the wolf turned towards the princess with a clearly questioning look in his golden eyes.

She blinked "Uh…I don't think you have to worry about being too small…right, Nepomuk?"

The priest only nodded numbly, fighting to keep the shock from showing on his face.

Callisto almost pitied him, knowing that the man's world picture had been shaken to its very foundation more than once tonight.

First, he had to see with his own eyes that the story about the death of his precious Ariel was true, that he had indeed been beaten by a bitten one, and then said bitten one transforms, seemingly easy although the moon hasn't even risen yet, into the greatest wolf she had ever seen.

In short, Tommy Dawkins had indeed rocked his world.

As soon as she had picked her jaw of the floor again Lori leaned over to her mate-to-be, whispering fascinated "Do you look like this when you're fully transformed, too?"

"No, not exactly…. my colouring is different and I'm way smaller - more the size of a real wolf or a large shepherd dog." Stephen answered, slightly nervous at how she would react.

He didn't need to have worried; Lori just smiled at him before leaning even closer, purring teasingly "How about you show me?"

Stephen froze for a moment, eyes wide in surprise, before jumping up and all but dragging her off into the woods. No one was surprised when they didn't return until morning, both looking tired but very happy, with Lori sporting a fresh mating mark.

Callisto, Jamie and even Nepomuk bid them farewell, Callisto promising to pack and send Stephen's belongings express and wished him and his new mate all the very best.

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A few weeks later everyone was sitting around a large bonfire again. It was their last night together like this, for semester break was nearly over and tomorrow Luke, Sam and Mary would be driving home again.

But it was a happy goodbye, knowing they would see each other again soon enough. They would return in November for Sam's Lycanamora vision, and Mary had already invited everyone to visit them between Christmas and New Year, pointing out her cooking skills and how quiet and empty the big house felt after their parents' death.

Tommy was still a bit unsure about accepting the invitation, knowing how important it was for his mother to celebrate Christmas with the family, and decided to wait and see how she would behave around his beloved when they saw her again.

If needs must he would rather spend Christmas Eve alone with Merton at the lair then at his parental home without him.

Hopefully he wouldn't have to go that far, but if that was what it took for his mom to finally realise that he wasn't an 'I' anymore but a 'we' now, that Merton was his family above all, then so be it.

Lori's joyful laughter tore him out of his rather sombre thoughts. Smiling over at her, Tommy truly appreciated that his inner wolf had finally stopped seeing the blonde as a threat but regarded her now as a part of his pack as well, since she was mated to his beta Stephen.

'_My_ _pack_' Tommy thought, and even now, weeks later, he still felt the warm rush of delight and contentment at it.

He looked at the people surrounding the fire, Merton, Stephen, Lori, Rock, Luke, Sam… and that was just the beginning, his pack would continue to grow.

Mary felt already nearly as pack as well, probably because she was Luke's twin, but Tommy had no doubt that her and Sam would mate, the boy's Lycanamora vision a mere formality.

In a few years Luke and Rock would find mates too, and some more years ahead the first children would be born, including his and Merton's own.

His pack would prosper, for generations to come if he had any say in the matter.

Tommy's smile grew as he pulled Merton close, feeling almost grateful for the whole Ariel mess if only for this result. And when his beloved mate snuggled up to him, his last thought before kissing him was: Life is great.

The End……for now!

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Note: As already announced/threatened, there will be a part 3, here are a few teasers:

- More trouble with Sally Dawkins (Do you really expect her to change her mind about Tommy and Merton being an item that easily? Neither do I!)

- An old friend from the show will reappear (dedication of first chapter to those who guess him right – I give you a hint: fire!)

- You finally get to know why Merton is the black sheep of his family (Treating their own son like dirt, basically repudiating him and banish him into the cellar? There's got to be more behind this than just him being a Goth!)

- The future of the pack (I've got some surprises in store for you – and poor Tommy)

- And yes, I will make our beloved couple parents, meaning: there will be an mpreg (O.O!) though it won't be too graphic (aka no yucky details - unless you ask for it) I just need them to have kids for my storyline, plus I can _so_ see them being cute as parents…

- Oh, and I'll give Dean a girlfriend! I just love his character and feel he's highly underrepresented in most stories…if he's playing a role at all.

Everyone who left a signed review or put this story on alert/in his favourites will get notified once the first chapter of the new story is online.


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